If only Tonks was older
by Raven Woods 2003
Summary: Tonks is ten years older, three years below the Marauders at Hogwarts. Remus and Tonks are in love, Sirius is a drama queen and Gryffindor common room is a walk-in 24/7 care service. What could possibly go wrong?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N (Info on the terrible format of the first eight chapters will be in a later A/N)I know that Nymphadora didn't go to school at the same time as the Marauders, but this is just what I think probably would have happened if she did. I know that some of the drama in this is kinda unlikely but I mean most of it is Sirius being a drama queen, and we all know that he totally was (See: ONLY ONE WILL DIE TONGHT! – just bloody tell him you want the rat!) I don't own anything Harry Potter, as much as I hope. I wrote most of this a while ago, so there may be some questionable grammar and spellings. Enjoy!**

Chapter 1

Staring up at the clouds, Nymphadora Tonks smiled. "I love hanging out with you guys!" she laughed, as Sirius jabbed a hand into James' side, making him jerk. Remus nodded. "They're cool, but so annoying." He laughed with Tonks, "Usually they plan on how to get back at Severus. James is still fuming with him for calling Lily… That." He glanced at James, who's head was at his feet. Nymphadora nodded thoughtfully. "Yes, I don't think I'd like it either. If my boyfriend was called that I'd be angry too." Sirius sprang up, and eyes his second cousin accusingly. "Who's this boyfriend?" he looked at Remus, who shrugged. Nymphadora rolled her eyes, sighing heavily. "Why are you so protective? And I don't have a boyfriend, I was talking hypothetically. Everyone here is terrified of me," she pointed to her teal hair, "Or they just hate me. as if I'd ever get a boyfriend with this dumb condition, or whatever the hell this," she pointed to her hair again, "Is." Sirius stood up angrily. "Just because you're a Metamorphmagus it doesn't mean that any man wouldn't want you. it makes you special, right guys?" he turned to his two best friends, who nodded.

Peter Pettigrew found his friends sat beneath the Whomping Willow, a lunatic tree that was controlled by Professor Dumbledore and was ordered not to attack the Marauders or anyone with them. The reason for this was rather…. Furry, and the Marauders were told not tell anyone, despite the fact that half the school knew anyway. "Hey guys, Nymphadora," he said, sitting down. Tonks' hair turned a shade of orange. "Don't call me that, Peter, you know I hate it." He smiled anxiously and nodded, before moving margianally closer to Remus. He and Sirius, being as strong as they were, were probably the only ones who could calm her down if she got too angry, and would hopefully stop her attacking him. This happened in her first year, when Peter had accidentally insulted her. How was he to know that her hair wasn't blue by choice. Lily joined them a moment later and sat beside James in the small circle. "I can't believe we have to leave you here for two whole years on your own." Sighed James. The Marauders and Lily were in fifth year, whereas Tonks was only in the third year. She nodded, taking a bite out of her jam sandwich. "I'll be fine, what's the worst that could happen?" she smiled. Sirius looked up from where he was pulling the grass out of its roots. "You could get a boyfriend." He said, deadly serious. Lily burst at laughing, and Tonks glared at her. She tried to stop herself from laughing, but there was a huge grin on her face.

"Oh no! It's her!" yelled a first year boy. It was only two weeks into the term, but Hufflepuff had already told the first years about Nymphadora, claiming she was 'Dangerous'. The common room mostly cleared, except a few people who stared at her cautiously. "She doesn't look very happy… we'd better watch out…" one girl whispered to her friend, who nodded, her eyes not leaving Tonks. Damn this school! Everyone was so judgemental! She went into her room, where the other third year girls were congregated. "Here she is! Tonks, who do you think Jessie's brother will be taking to the Valentine's Ball?" asked Avalanti. She smiled gleefully as her best friend squirmed. "I don't know," Tonks shrugged, "Hannah Grayson maybe?" she had seen them together many times, and they were a well-known Hufflepuff couple, almost as famous as Lily and James. The room erupted into laughter as Jessie slammed her face into her pillow. "I don't want to know who my brother is dating, Okay?" she wailed as the girls laughed mercilessly, before running out of the room. Tonks sighed, grabbing a book and attempting to leave the room. "So, come on, Nymphadora, who are you going with?" sneered Avalanti, blocking her way. Tonks' hair turned orange. God she hated that name. "I'm not going. Not that there's anyone I'd go with anyway." The girl laughed nastily and the remaining two girls cornered her beside a bed. "What about Remus, eh?" She smiled when Tonks' hair glowed pink. Avalanti laughed, "It's so obvious you like him." the girls laughed after her as she fled the room, running through Hogwarts' corridors, and not stopping until she reached Gryffindor's painting.

"What happened?" asked Sirius, sitting in front of his cousin, who's hair was glowing pink. "I'm Embarrassed, why don't you ask my hair?" she pointed angrily to her head, tears in her pink eyes. Sirius sighed. "Who said something? Was it that girl again? Was she taking advantage of your…." He trailed off, gesturing towards her hair. Remus sighed and pulled a chair, facing her. "What did she say to embarrass you?" he asked. Tonks' hair glowed even brighter than before. "I'd prefer not to talk about it." She mumbled, hiding her blushing cheeks. Sirius pushed Remus back, putting his face inches from hers. "If you don't tell us we can't help-" "You aren't very sensitive are you?" Lily appeared, leaning against the doorway. "Go on, boys. Get out of here. Girl stuff." She pushed the boys into their room, and sat in front of Tonks. "Come on," she smiled, "What happened?"

Lily looked thoughtful when Tonks finished her story. "Right," she murmured, "That is a huge problem. The best thing you could do is try and control you're feelings, try not to show them as easily." Lily smiled, "And this girl? She's just a coward if she uses your condition to intimidate you. she's just mean. Ignore her." There was a noise from the boys' room, and Lily put her ear to the door. She put a finger to her lips. Tonks laughed as Lily pulled open the door, Sirius collapsing onto the common room floor. "It's a good job these doors are soundproof from the outside, eh, Tonks?" she gave her a knowing smile, before going back to her room. "so, what was wrong?" Nymphadora shrugged. "Nothing for you boys to worry about." She winked to where Lily was peeking through her door, before leaving for Hufflepuff's headquarters.

"So what was that thing with Tonks about?" asked James, the following day at breakfast. Lily sighed. "If Tonks wants to tell you, which I highly doubt, then she can." She smiled, "It's like, Girl Code not tell each other's secrets." She laughed as James and Sirius groaned loudly. Remus looked up from his book. "I hope Tonks is okay. That Avalanti girl needs putting in her place. Her taking advantage of Tonks makes me so… angry!" he slammed his hand on the table, making a few people stare. He blushed slightly. "Why are you so angry?" asked Sirius. Lily half-smiled, but no-one noticed as they were staring at Remus. He shrugged. "She's my friend. she doesn't deserve to be bullied just because she's a Metamorphmagus." He said quickly. James and Sirius shrugged and went back to eating, but Lily stared at Remus for a second. His cheeks were bright red. He couldn't…. could he? Sirius smiled mischievously. "What?" Lily asked, being dragged from her thoughts, Sirius winked at her, "I think that this is the perfect occasion for a… small prank…" he said, grinning.

Tonks was walking to Dinner a week later when Sirius and James came up to her, grinning. "Don't eat your dinner," said James, "We're pulling a prank on Hufflepuff, Slytherin and the teachers. We didn't cast the spell on Gryffindor and Ravenclaw, but we couldn't single you out, so just say you aren't hungry." She rolled her eyes and shrugged. She was used to her cousin and his friends telling her not to do something. They were, after all, The Marauders, famous for causing havoc at Hogwarts. She sat beside Jessie, the only nice third year. She smiled. Did she really want her to get pranked? Yes. "Where's the food?" asked Avalanti. She looked at Tonks nastily. "I'm not hungry," she said to Jessie, who shrugged. Tonks turned to see that the whole Gryffindor table was grinning. When the food appeared, everyone tucked in except for Tonks. It was hilarious.

"You made everyone's food taste like rubbish? That's so immature!" laughed Tonks, the day after. Lily nodded sadly as James and Sirius high-fived. "It was pretty funny though!" smiled Remus, making Tonks' heart flutter. He hair began to change to pink. "What?" she realised that Remus was stood beside her, and her eyes and hair were now pale pink. She shook her head, and the colour disappeared, going back to its normal purple. "Yeah, I guess. You ought to have seen Avalanti's face!" she smiled. Remus nodded and turned to Peter. They both peered over his shoulder to see that he was staring into his hand. "What are you doing?" asked Tonks. He looked up, surprised. "I'm reading my palm to see what happens. It says that I die pretty young, and that I don't have children." Sirius looked at him quizzically, before sighing and holding out his hand. "Here, since you asked." The group rolled their eyes. Sirius was such a drama queen. Peter peered into his hand. "It says that you die pretty young too. you don't get married or have kids either." Sirius smiled. "You're happy about that?" asked Lily, "Weirdo. Here, Peter, read mine." He took her hand, then said, "You die before me and Sirius, and you get married and have one child." James sighed loudly, and when Peter tried to grab his hand he pulled back. "I prefer to take life as it comes thanks." he smiled nervously. Remus laughed.

James finally gave in, meaning that the whole group had had their palms read. "It's so weird that you four have the same thing, and we do." Sirius shook his head. Peter looked at the four's hand again, and did a double take. "Lily, you and James die the same age, same with Remus and Tonks. Like, literally on the same days." The group looked at each other worriedly. After a while Sirius laughed. "You're worse than Professor Celeste. She says that Pete's gonna kill himself, that I'm going to get eaten by some sort of vail and that Lily and James are going to die protecting a baby." This made Tonks laugh, which made Lily laugh, and in the end the Marauders were laughing their heads off beneath the Whomping Willow, just like always.

Tonks sat on her own in most lessons. The teachers knew that the rest of Hufflepuff didn't really like her much, and that they tended to avoid her, so didn't think it fair that she was forced to sit next to someone who was afraid of her. She was staring into space, thinking about werewolves, when the teacher said, "Tonks, what do you think? Are werewolves dangerous or not?" the class looked at her. Of course she was given this question. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Avalanti smirk. "No, I most definitely do not think that werewolves are dangerous." Professor took a step towards her. "So what do you think they are like?" she glanced around the class. Normally they would be doing something else, but this question was just too hilarious to not watch. "Werewolves are misunderstood creatures, much like myself. Nobody in here actually knows anything about me, they just judge me because of what I am, just like Remus." She put a hand over her mouth immediately. How could she be so stupid? Why did she answer? She was such an idiot! Remus was never going to forgive her. "Do you think this… Remus person is hot, Nymphadora?" Avalanti asked. The class laughed as her hair turned pink. "That's enough, now."

Tonks skipped her following classes, spending the time under the Whomping Willow, after narrowly avoiding getting killed by its manic branches. Tears rolled down her face as she curled up beside the trunk. She was facing the Forbidden Forest so that no-one would see her. How could she have let this happen? She had given everyone proof that Remus was a werewolf. He was never going to forgive her. And then her hair had to go crazy and turn different colours so now everyone, both the Hufflepuff students and the Gryffindor students knew that she liked him. God damn it! She heard a noise behind her and her head turned at rapid speed. Oh god. "Lily, I don't need this right now." Lily sighed and sat down, putting her hand on Tonks' shoulder. "I know what happened, a bunch of Gryffindors came and told us. Sirius wasn't very happy, apparently they didn't realise that you were his cousin." She smirked when Tonks snorted. She put her head on Lily's shoulder, like she was an older sister. "What did they say?" she said, putting her head in her hands. Lily laughed nervously. "Well, they ran up to us and yelled, 'Remus! Remus, that scary multi-coloured girl likes you! she had to give her opinion on werewolves and she said that they're misunderstood, like her, and she said your name, but then Ava asked if she thought you were hot, and she blushed really badly, like even her hair and stuff went pink, it was so funny!' I had to stop them both from killing him, the poor kid." Nymphadora sighed. How had everything messed up so badly?

Sirius' brow furrowed; he was still fuming about what had happened. He looked at Remus, who was taking notes. "aren't you angry?" he whispered. Remus shrugged, his face turning beetroot. "Embarrassments happen, I guess…" he mumbled. Sirius stared at him wide-eyed. How could he not be? "she was sticking up for you-" "Yeah, she also told everyone what I am." Remus looked at her, and for the first time Sirius thought he might be on the verge of crying. But he was so angry he didn't care. "People know what you are? Everyone knew, and how do you think she feels? She has no way of hiding what she is and everyone hates her, at least you have friends." Remus turned away. "She has friends too." he said, closing his eyes, which were tearing up. "I mean friends that aren't your cousin. And true friends who don't get angry when they get stuck up for." The bell went just then and Sirius stood up angrily before storming out and down to Dinner. "What did you do?" asked James, laughing. Sirius was so melodramatic! He looked at Remus, and realised that he was practically crying. "I'm going back to the common room, I don't feel well." He mumbled, striding off.

Lily looked at Sirius thoughtfully. Remus sure had got upset over that whole Tonks thing, clearly, which made her wonder… she glanced at James, who was sat beside her, then at Peter. They were both looking at Sirius nervously, but he didn't raise his head from the table. "Must be asleep." Whispered Peter.

"I'm not, I'm trying my best to get rid of the headache that is Mr Remus Lupin." Lily raised her eyebrows at James. This couldn't be good. "What did he… you know, do?" asked James cautiously. He knew not to push Sirius when he was angry. "He's angry at Tonks for revealing what he is, even though the whole school knows anyway. She was only trying to stick up for him, but as per always he has to act like it's the end of the world. Poor Tonks. At least Remus is in a house that doesn't completely hate him." Lily put her fork down. Was she really about to do this? Tread in deep waters? "What about the fact that she likes him…. does that have anything to do with it?" James looked and Lily, and Sirius' head sprang up. "What?" he seethed. Lily sighed. "That boy also said that that Avalanti girl asked her if she thought Remus was hot, and she flipped out. How do we know that Remus feels the same way but just doesn't want to talk about it?" Sirius stared at Lily, eyes wide. "My best friend IS NOT dating my cousin, are we clear?" he slammed his head back down on the table, ending the conversation.

Sirius was miserable for the best part of three weeks. He and The Marauders barely spoke, as he spent most of his time at the Whomping Willow, looking for Tonks. She now skipped most of lessons, crying under the tree's trunk. Her hair constantly flicked from blue to pink to red when she was in the hallways, causing most of the school to look at her. Even when she was in class, all she did was cause havoc. Avalanti didn't go a day without having an inkwell blow up on her desk, or having a book fly at her face. Tonks was in detention so much she was catching up to Remus and James on 43 each. Sirius was rather proud of her as he listened to her third Howler that month. James winced as Andromeda screamed at her daughter, who casually sat eating, the whole school staring. "Causing trouble in class? That's disgraceful!" yelled her mother as she nodded. "You'll never become an Auror, they don't let bad kids in. Besides, they probably wouldn't let you in anyway, given what you are… And don't think your father hasn't heard about this too! He says the exact same as me. You'll never get married, Nymphadora, no man would want you. not at this rate." The Howler ripped itself up. Tonks had stopped eating at the part about becoming an Auror, and her hair went pink, then blue. A tear rolled down her face. Her mother was right. She was never going to get a boyfriend or a job, not with her condition. The Great Hall stared at her as she got up and left, their heads turning as Sirius followed, then Lily, then James, then finally Peter. Remus was the only one left. "Aren't you going?" asked a seventh year. The school looked at him anxiously, before He shrugged, standing and sauntering after them.

The Marauders found Tonks in her usual place. "I-I have to ch-change my p-place. I k-keep getting d-disturbed." She stuttered, gulping back tears. Sirius knelt beside her and she bawled into his arm. "W-Why can't I j-just be n-normal?" she wailed, "M-mum's right, I'll n-never be able to g-get m-married!" she choked on the last word and burst into a set of fresh tears. Her hair was changing colours rapidly. She wailed again, but this time it was as if in pain. Lily peered around the tree and held her head, "She's having a panic attack, Sirius, and they can be fatal to Metamorphs." She said. She wanted to be Healer, and knew about attacks like these. Sirius took of his jumper like Lily ordered and put it beneath her head. "What can we do?" He said, completely panicked by his cousin's state. Lily shook her head, noticing that Peter and James had arrived. "Quick, you two, help me hold her down, she needs to move as little as possible." Remus leant on the tree above them, watching as the girl cried in complete agony. It was like watching someone suffer the Cruciatus Curse. He winced as Sirius yelled at him, "Remus, why the hell are you just standing there? Help us!" He seemed really upset; it was the first time the Marauders had seen him cry. "I can't lose her, Remus, please, she's the only sane one in my family!" Remus sighed and rolled his eyes. "I wouldn't exactly call this sane." He pointed at Tonks' hair, which was turning every colour of the rainbow. Sirius really wanted to punch him as he watched, but he knew he couldn't leave her.

Lily couldn't understand it. Why was Remus being so horrible? It was nowhere near the full moon, and he used to be just as worried about Tonks as Sirius. What had changed? Was it really because of what had happened? "For Merlin's sake, Remus, Help!" Yelled James. He was getting really annoyed now. Couldn't he just help? After about three quarters of an hour, her hair stopped switching, and she stopped trying to escape their hold. Lily listened to her breaths for a moment, before nodding. "She's gonna be fine." She sighed with relief. Sirius felt like bursting into tears. However, he had more important matters to attend to. He and James stood up and looked at Remus. "Why didn't you help us?" panted James, "Your strength could've really helped." Remus shrugged and opened his book. Rage filled Sirius, and he lunged forwards, James only just grabbing him. Lily stood between them. "He's acting so casual, like she means nothing! How can he be such a-" Lily interrupted Sirius before he said something he'd regret; "Sirius, calm down. Just because Rem- Lupin," She glared at him, purposely calling him by his last name, "is acting like the werewolf he is, it doesn't mean you have to act like a lunatic too. Now, can you please lift her, we need to get her into a bed." She continued to glare at Remus as they walked past. James had to help Sirius in lifting the girl, she was in such an awkward position. Peter was the last of the five of them to leave the scene, and he scuttled straight past him. Remus sat down where Tonks had been just a moment before. He had no idea why he'd been so idiotic. He put his head in his head in his hands and sighed loudly.

Sirius knelt beside Tonks right until the moment she woke up, three hours later, in the middle of the night. She sprang up, scared. "Sirius? Lily?" she saw Sirius beside her and stared at him, wide-eyed. "What happened? Why am I here?" Sirius took great care in explaining what had happened, leaving out what Remus had done. "She's right you know, Mum. I'm never gonna become an Auror. They aren't going to let me, especially after this. As for getting married…. Well we established ages ago that that's not happening, so…" she trailed off, seeing that Lily and James were sat on James' bed. "You guys stayed up too?" she asked, worried. Her friends hadn't slept? She didn't care about sleep, she didn't go to many classes, but Lily wanted to be a Healer, and she needed perfect grades. "Panic Attacks can be fatal to Metamorphs, we had to make sure you were alright." Smiled Lily. Peter was staring at her, terrified. James rolled his eyes. "Ignore him, he had your foot, I think you kicked him in the face three times." The Marauders laughed as Peter nodded. Tonks got up and pulled him into a hug. "I'm sorry Pete. I know you meant well…. Did I hurt anyone else?" They all shook their heads. "What about Remus… he isn't here! God, he wasn't so bad he had to go to the infirmary was he?" Sirius looked at Lily. She shrugged anxiously. James scratched his head. Peter looked at her nervously. "What? Did I kill him?" her hair turned grey with worry. James sighed.

"We have to tell her…. Remus didn't help. He was there, but… but he wouldn't help us. He just watched, the git." He looked at Sirius, who'd scrunched up his hands into fists, "We don't know why, he just, didn't seem to care…" Tonks' eyes welled up with tears. He didn't care? Lily stood up and hugged her. "He's awful, we know. he hasn't come back, thank Merlin. If Sirius didn't kill him, I wouldn't doubt that me and James would have his throat." She smiled slightly, before looking at the door, which opened. "Talk of the Devil." James seethed. He looked at Sirius, who calmly sat down. He wasn't going to upset poor Tonks even more by becoming a murderer. Remus sat on his bed and pulled a book off of the table. He began reading, despite that fact that the Marauders were staring at him. Tonks shifted awkwardly on her feet. "I should go…" she mumbled, "The girls, th-they'll be wondering where I am." Sirius rolled his eyes, completely annoyed. "No they won't, Tonks, you know they don't like you… no offense." "It's fine, I'll just stay in the common room. Most people clear out when I'm in there anyway." Lily looked at her, one eyebrow raised. "No, Tonks, you're staying in my room. At least then you don't have to share with…" She glanced at Remus, "Boys. You won't have to share with boys." She finished, not trying to start an argument. "I'm not supposed to be here anyway, we'd get so done." Tonks shook her head, "It's fine, the common room sofa's pretty comfy anyway, you know. Besides, no-one in Gryffindor likes me much ether. Or Ravenclaw, and especially not Slytherin. Then again, after what my extremely loving Mother wrote in that Howler, they probably adore me. Yay." She sighed, and was about to leave when Peter stood up. "Don't go, Tonks. Just because… people… here aren't nice doesn't mean you have to leave us. We're still your friends." It was the first time he'd spoken about Remus, even though it was indirectly aimed at him. Tonks smiled. "No, It's good. I wouldn't want your house to hate you too." she opened the door and slipped out of it silently. As she walked through the corridors, tears rolled slowly down her face and her hair turned a deep blue. How had everything gone so wrong?

"Well done, Lupin." Said Sirius. None of the Marauders had called him by his first name since he'd started acting like a prat. He sat on his bed. "You know, the only reason I'm not killing him is because Tonks needs me out of prison, right?" he looked at James, who nodded. Lily sighed loudly. She was reaching the end of her tether. Remus acting horrid, Sirius and James angry all the time, Peter barely talking, Tonks constantly upset. Everything was falling apart. She felt like she was going to cry. "I'm going to bed." She mumbled, wiping away a tear. James looked at her, worried, as she left the room. "James, could you help me with my Transfiguration homework?" Asked Sirius, "I'd ask someone else, but he's acting like a git at the current time." He glared at Remus, and James sighed. "You're a bloody Animagus, Sirius. Can't you figure it out yourself? I'm going to bed." He pulled the covers over himself, and Peter silently turned out the light beside his bed. James did the same, his face in his pillow. The only light was coming from Sirius and Remus' bed lamps, the only sound was Sirius' scrawling. Eventually Remus turned out his light, then finally Sirius did. But none of them were asleep. They heard movement, and then sobs. Peter was crying. His friends were breaking apart, all around him, and then what would he have left? He'd be on his own just like Tonks would be the year they left. They four boys sat, listening to Peter's wrenching sobs. Little did they know that two girls were doing the exact same thing.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N just wanted to say that I wrote this story quite a while ago so if any parts are a bit crappy, that's why. Hope you enjoy this chapter, it's quite long!**

Chapter 2

Tonks leaned against the back of the sofa, tears drenching her cheeks. She had lost all of her friends – not that she had many anyway – and she was going to get nowhere in life. She stood up. There was no point in laying down if there was no chance of her falling asleep, was there? She pulled on her robes over her nightie, and padded into the hallway. It was then she had an idea of where to go, and she headed straight to her place beneath the Whomping Willow. The full moon wasn't for another three days, so there was no chance of anyone going there, until morning at least. She curled up, as usual and lay for about half an hour, staring into the forest, before eventually sleep dragged her into its abyss.

The Marauders ate breakfast in silence. Remus had been forced to sit with them, as there were no other seats. Sirius sat as far away from his possible. Suddenly, a first year Hufflepuff stood before them. "Um… Are you Sirius Black and Lily Potter?" he looked at James and Lily. Sirius sighed. His temper had a very short fuse these days. "No, I am. Why?" he glared at the boy, whose eyes widened. "Our Prefects wanted me to come and ask you if you knew where Nympha-Nympha- Tonks was." He said, failing at reading her name off his hand, "They told me to tell you that she hasn't been seen since last night, when she left after the Howler." Remus' eyes flashed with fear, Lily saw, and Sirius stood up. "Tell your Prefects I'm on it." He strode out of the room, making for the Whomping Willow. She had to be there, she had to be.

Sure enough, Sirius found a sleeping, teal-haired girl sleeping beneath its branches. He sat beside her. "What?" she snapped, waking up. Sirius shrugged. "I figured you'd be here. I guess you couldn't sleep last night. I told you that you shouldn't of left." "It would've have been uncomfortable for Remus. Unlike you, I take other people into account, rather than just myself." She sighed, seeing that he was hurt. "I'm sorry, I just hate this, I hate that you guys aren't talking. Maybe you should just pretend I'm not here, just pretend I don't exist. Then you'll be friends again." Sirius shook his head. "Tonks, you're the only one who understands what I've been through. You are, surprisingly, the sanest person in my whole family. Because, unfortunately, although Andy isn't as bad as Mother or my other dreadful cousins, she is still very much a Black." He smiled slightly. "Come on." He said, standing up. Nymphadora looked at him, completely confused. "Well, you said that you're sick of everything." She nodded, "Well, let's go sort everything out!" he grabbed her hand and pulled her up the path. He hadn't noticed that she was in her nightie, or that she was barefoot.

He dragged her into the Great Hall, and the school stared at the awkward girl in her nightie. Barefoot, pink hair and dirt smudges on her arms and legs. Sirius beamed at the school, before pulling Tonks to the Ravenclaw table. He stood on the bench and stepped up onto the table, pulling Tonks up beside him. McGonagall stood up, prepared to give a detention, but the Headmaster held his hand out. "I have a feeling that the boy means well, Minerva. Shall we give him chance, perhaps?" she seated again, and watched as the scene unfolded. "Hello!" yelled Sirius. The school looked in his direction, including the Marauders. "I am Sirius Black, a Marauder. Thanks again, Minnie." He winked at McGonagall, making the school chuckle. Even Dumbledore felt a small smile creep on his face. "This is my second cousin, Tonks. A lot of you guys fear her, because she's a Metamorph, but I'm stood here, literally in someone's breakfast," he looked at his feet, which were in a girl's beans, before continuing, "But you don't need to be. Plus, it upsets her. Now, some people," he glared at Avalanti, "Have been taking advantage of her condition. How would you like it? If you were made fun of every day, with no friends to stick up for you? yeah, exactly. And yes, she does have a crush on one of my… old friends. Yes, old friend, because lately he's been acting like a total git, just because Tonks here accidentally told everyone he's a werewolf, even though he knows full well the entire school knew. Anyway, she had a panic attack, and they can be fatal to Metamorphs. I know most of you don't give one, but I do. Now, my dearest buddy left her. She could've died. And before you judge me for publicly trashing my friend, that's not what I want to do. I'm just telling you the facts." He looked at his watch, "Damn it! First class is soon… anyway, that happened, and he hasn't talked since. Now third years have probably noticed that she has been missing tons of lessons, yeah, she has, because she's been too busy crying." His cousin's hair was getting pinker by the second as the school stared at her. "Sirius what the hell are you doing?" she whispered, "Are you trying to embarrass me?" Sirius shook his head, before quickly continuing. "So, Remus. Please, stop being a git. Just suck it up that she likes you. I mean, come on, it was years before Lily gave in to James, the poor mite. I'm sure Tonks here can wait." He grinned as Remus' cheeks flushed red. "Remus?" Tonks looked at him. her hair went to her teal colour. Lily stood up and ran to the table, Sirius helping her up. She was shortly followed by James and Peter. "Come on, Remus. The Marauder's back together? I even planned a treat for us if it went well…" the school held its breath, and even Dumbledore was eager to know the outcome. Remus rolled his eyes, before standing up and running over to the Ravenclaw table. The school cheered as Sirius set of at least twenty fireworks, even some of the Slytherins. "I've been planning this for weeks!" Sirius grinned, hugging Tonks. Her hair was lime green, which Sirius knew meant she was happy. Finally, things were going right again.

Dumbledore stood when the fireworks finally ceased, smiling. "Well, after that amazing news, why don't we all head off and have a day off, eh?" he asked. McGonagall stood up in shock. "But, Albus, the Tests are next week! The students need this time to-" "Minerva, I'm sure we can let it slide just this one time, seen as though it is so close to Christmas, and the students are all friends again?" he raised his eyebrows, "Come on, Professor, I saw you smiling at Sirius' touching speech." Sirius grinned at the Gryffindor table, before yelling loudly, "yeah! Come on Minnie!" the school laughed and cheered when she sat back down. "No Tests! I stopped the tests! Mummy dearest will be so proud" Sirius grinned. "Turning in her grave, more like!" laughed James. Peter laughed with his friends. They were back together again! But, a niggling thought in the back of his mind reminded him that, in all the misery, he'd made the worst decision of his life.

Tonks sat down in the Library beside Remus, putting her head on the desk. "You slept at the Whomping Willow again, right?" sighed Sirius. She nodded, not looking up from the desk. "but why?" asked Lily, "You could stay in Gryffindor, the girls are fine with it, I asked." "I am not allowed to do that. Dumbledore gave me a very stern talking-to last time. It was so boring." She rolled her eyes, "Besides, the Whomping Willow's a great place to sleep. it 's dead peaceful." "Apart from the fact that it's right next to the forest. Not to mention a ravenous werewolf is going there tomorrow night!" Sirius nudged Remus playfully. "Don't worry, Tonks, I'll try not to eat you." He rolled his eyes as Sirius laughed, but then he jumped up, his face serious. "Kill my cousin and I'll have you head on a golden platter." The he smiled, "Not that I have a golden platter. Mother would never allow such things!" the Marauders laughed. This was something they did often, they were constantly smiling.

Tonks woke suddenly. She heard a twig crack behind her. "Remus?" she whispered. The Gryffindor's face appeared beside the tree. "Tonks? You can't be here! I need to go." he looked anxiously at the soon setting sun. "I-I know. I just wanted to say that I hope you have a good moon. Don't hurt yourself too badly. I'll wait for you to come back, make sure you're alright." Remus was still looking at the sun, which was practically over the horizon. He nodded and flung himself into the dark tunnel, running to his usual place. Tonks sat down in front of where the door was. She waited for about an hour, before doing something very, incredibly, undoubtedly idiotic. She turned her wand in the small knot in the tree's trunk, opening the entrance. She glances around quickly, before leaping in. she closed the entrance from the other side, and peered down the long tunnel. It was lit with a candle about halfway down, but Tonks couldn't see any further. The tunnel was at least three miles long, and it took Tonks forever to reach the other end. She didn't know the exact time, but guessed it had taken her about half an hour. She looked at the trap door above her head. Should she do this? She did know something that the others didn't, but she could still be completely jeopardising Remus' full moon. She pushed into open and pulled herself up.

"Remus?" she called. She had to admit that she was, in fact, terrified, but that was a risk she was prepared to take. She heard a howl coming from upstairs. It didn't sound a particularily angry howl, but Tonks took great care in going up the stairs. When she got up, she saw a large, grey figure. It was about seven-foot-tall, and had bright golden eyes. Remus stared at her. He was in control tonight, not the angry werewolf that occasionally took over. "What the hell are you doing? I'm going to kill you!" he said in the wolf's raspy voice. He could only talk when he was in control, the rest of the time he could only howl and growl. He looked at the girl in panic and worry as she walked around him and sat on the end of the bed. "Metamorphs are unaffected by the bite. You might give me a few cuts, but you can't turn me. That's probably the best thing about being a damned Metamorph." Remus was staring at her; He hadn't known that. "Where's Sirius and James? I thought that they helped you with the moon? They spent three years trying to turn into an Animagus, and they're not even here!" Remus was still staring at her. Moonlight was coming through the cracks in the windows, and they were glittering on Tonks' face. "They couldn't come, they were helping Peter with his homework. He said that it didn't matter, but I told them that he was more important. I feel bad, because, you know, he gets left out a lot." Remus shrugged as Tonks rolled her eyes. She loved him, but the werewolf in front of her was so weird. "So, what do you want to do?" she asked, grinning.

The pair went back to Hogwarts together in the early hours of Saturday; Remus smiling gleefully. It was one of the best moons he'd ever had. the Shack was a bit small to play Tag in, but the two enjoyed it anyway. Tonks laughed randomly, obviously thinking the same thing. She grabbed Remus' hand a pulled him back towards the Shack. "Where are we going?" asked Remus, allowing the small Hufflepuff to pull him along. She grinned, "We're going to spend the day in Hogsmead. You didn't get many scratches last night, and you aren't in any more pain than usual, so you don't need to go to Pomphrey, do you? Come on, you can't deny that you come here tons with Sirius, James and Peter." Remus rolled his eyes, but followed Tonks anyway. When they crawled under the fence that surrounded the Shack, Remus was starting to enjoy himself.

"So, who do you think is going to end up together, you know, after all this?" laughed Tonks, her mouth stuffed full with chocolate. Remus shrugged. They were both still holding hands, and Tonks swung his arm playfully. "James and Lily definitely. I don't know, maybe… Alice and Frank? They've been dating near-on a year now, and they're usually together." He put a Bertie Bott's in his mouth and gagged. "I hate coconut!" he said, his face retorted. Tonks laughed as Remus struggled to swallow the sweet. "Come on, let's get back." She sighed glancing at the large clock above the church. It was almost midday, and the Marauders would be wondering where they both were. "Wait, come with me first." Remus pulled Tonks through the snow. It was Christmas in a week, and Remus and Tonks were staying. Sirius had to go to one of his Mother's parties, and James and Lily were spending Christmas in Australia with James' parents. Peter just said that his parents wanted him home this year, leaving Remus and Tonks. They sat down in the Three Broomsticks, both with a Butterbear. "I've never had one of these before," smiled Tonks. Remus gasped. "Try it, they're amazing!" she took a mouthful, and her eyes widened. She nodded and swallowed, before taking another gulp. Remus laughed as she drank the whole cup in about ten seconds flat. "I take it you liked it, then!" he smiled. She nodded enthusiastically. "It's do good! Are we going back to Hogwarts now?" Remus nodded. "we can have a snowball fight on the way back." He said, leaving a small amount of money on the counter as they left and went outside into the cold winter air.

Sirius was pacing back and forth in the Gryffindor common room. "Where are they? Oh, god, I bet she went with him!" he fumed, "I bet they got hurt or something. Or maybe he hurt himself and she got dragged into the forest by something. Or-" the painting swung open, Remus and Tonks falling through, laughing their heads off and covered in snow. Where the hell have you two been? We thought you'd been killed!" he yelled, causing the common room to fall silent. Tonks rolled her eyes. "You're so dramatic. I went with Remus last night… well, I followed him. It was fine, Metamorphs can't be turned. Then we spent today in Hogsmead. Remus took me to the Three Broomsticks. Butterbear is amazing by the-" "What is wrong with you? we were worried sick!" He pointed backwards to where Lily, James and Peter were sat. Tonks' hair turned red as she glared at Sirius. "you're worse than my dad, Sirius. If I want to spend the day in Hogsmead I can. It's not like you haven't done it hundred times! And besides, what do you care? You left Remus to face the moon on his own!" "That's totally differ-" "How is it? What if it was a bad moon, eh? If he'd got really badly hurt he could've died, and you wouldn't have even noticed, would you?" Sirius fell silent and Tonks sighed. "I'm going back to Hufflepuff and getting changed, then I'm going to the Library. If that's okay with you!" she yelled, storming through the open painting.

"I can't believe you let her follow you!" snapped Sirius. The Marauders had gone into the boys' room for a bit more privacy. Remus' eyes widened. "I wouldn't… I couldn't…. I would never do anything to hurt Tonks, Sirius. You know that. She followed me… Thank god I was in control tonight and not that damned wolf." He sat down, his face in his palms. Lily looked at James who shrugged. "I don't really see what the problem is," she mumbled, "Tonks looked like she'd had a good time. I haven't seen her smile like that in absolutely ages!" Sirius stared at her like she'd gone bonkers. "Not a problem? She could've got hurt… he could've killed her!" he pointed to Remus, who sighed and nodded sadly. "I could've… I'm sorry, Sirius… I didn't mean to put her in danger. You know I wouldn't, because-" he stopped short, blushing scarlet. Lily glanced at James, who was grinning. He had just realised what Lily had been mumbling about just a month ago when she had said, "I wonder if…" and now he was speculating the exact same thing…

"Lily?" James crept into the common room, and his red-haired girlfriend turned her head green eyes gleaming in the candle light. "Yeah, I'm here. what did you want me for?" she blinked when James sat down. "I think Tonks likes Remus." He said, after a moment's pause. Lily snickered. "Well, that's fairly obvious. And he likes her back." She smiled when James nodded. At least she wasn't the only one to notice. "We have to find some way of getting them together without Sirius knowing." James said. Lily nodded, this was a great idea. "How about Peter? He can help, right?" she asked. James smiled, "Of course he can, we just have to make him promise not to tell the three of them." "Well, we can start by getting them to spend more time together. Did you see how much fun they had in Hogsmead? She was practically blowing up!" she laughed, remembering her friend's green hair, "It's good to see her that happy." "Yeah, plus she can spend moons with Remus, because he can't turn her. That made him really happy, I bet." James grinned with Lily as they thought of a plan. Usually it was Sirius who helped James, but that wasn't going to happen this time. "Sirius is going to be dead against it, but it may just work…"

The plan kicked into action on the final day of lessons. It was a day before James, Lily, Sirius and Peter boarded the train to go home for Christmas. The Marauder's final lesson had just ended, and James, Lily and Peter waved to Sirius and Remus. "We're going to the Library. Dumbledore said that we could take some books home for Christmas. We'll meet you… in the Great Hall." She pretended to think of a meeting place, before rushing off with the two boys. They headed in the direction of the library, before instead going towards the Great Hall. "You have no idea how hard it was to enchant these without Remus' help, plus Sirius almost caught us trying to smuggle them out of the dorm." Sighed James, pulling three fireworks out of the bag. Peter chuckled, before saying, "This is going to go really wrong I can feel it… Tonks is going to flip." Lily laughed, "I know!" before running ahead with James, Peter following suit.

Sirius and Remus were waiting in the Great Hall when Tonks arrived. "hey," she smiled, glancing at Remus, "Lily told me to come here and wait for her and James." She looked at her watch. "People are gonna be coming for lunch soon." She said that just as the first few people arrived, going and sitting at the Ravenclaw table. By the time the Great Hall was full, the Marauders were still waiting. "Sirius! Remus! Tonks!" they heard a yell behind them and turned to see James. He was breathless, and grinning, "Come, I asked Dumbledore and he said that Tonks could sit with us, seen as though it's the last day." He pulled Sirius with him, sitting him beside Lily. This was so that Remus and Tonks had to sit beside eachother. "so, did you get any homework to do over the holidays, Tonks?" asked Remus. His cheeks were slightly pink, Lily noticed, and he was trying to make small to talk to get over the fact that the girl he liked was sat beside him. "No, my teachers are pretty nice to me. especially Trelawney. Though she doesn't half make weird predictions. Remember how she told you that Sirius would be eaten by a vail, Peter would kill himself and James and Lily would die protecting a baby?" the Marauders nodded, "Well she told me that my Aunt would kill me. not that Bellatrix wouldn't. or Narcissa. They hate me, just like everyone else." She laughed uneasily. It really was possible that Bellatrix and Narcissa would kill her, Peter thought, they'd talked about it enough...

Tonks jumped as there was a large zoom, and a firework popped in the air. She gasped as she read what was written in the sparkling red stars. "Remus Lupin and Tonks. The school knows you like eachother – date already!" then another one boomed, reading, 'Love, James and Lily, with a little help from Peter' and then a final one with a big green smiley face. She shot a look at Remus, who was bright red, and then Sirius who's fists were clenched in anger. James, Lily and Peter were grinning madly and the school stared at them. why did this always happen? Why was Tonks' life so full of drama! She stood up and, as calmly as she could, walked out of the Great Hall.

"What was that?" yelled Sirius, when Gryffindor had returned to the common room. Lily sighed, rolling her eyes. "They like eachother, they should date! It's only right!" Sirius looked at Remus, who was scarlet red. "is it true? Do you like Tonks?" his fists were clenched, and he was staring at Remus angrily. Not noticing the painting had opened a crack, he sighed. "I don't like Tonks, okay? I wouldn't date her, Sirius… she isn't my type." Tonks felt her heart break as she silently closed the painting. The Singing Lady tutted at her. "Sorry Love." She sighed, "But you can't win them all."

Remus ran down the hallway. His hearing was a lot more defined than the others', and he had heard the door shut. He knew that she'd heard him. "Tonks!" he yelled. He pulled the Marauders' map, a plan of the school that the Marauders had made in their first year, out of his pocket, and saw that Tonks was beside the Whomping Willow – no, not beside it, in it. She was going to the Shrieking Shack. He bolted through the corridors. After what he'd just said, she was likely to be having a panic attack, and he wasn't going to abandon her like last time. Why was he so stupid? Why hadn't he just told Sirius that he liked Tonks? He'd of rather taken the punch than let Tonks get upset. If only she could read minds, then she would've known that he'd lied. "Tonks!" he bellowed, staggering through the long tunnel. He was light headed, from the fast transition between the warm Hogwarts hallways to the freezing, snowy air outside. He reached the trapdoor of the Shack in about ten minutes; he could run fast when he wanted to. the door was open, and he pulled himself up, snagging his robe and pulling a large hole in it. Tonks was curled in the corner when Remus usually stood. Remus was right; her hair was flipping through the rainbow and she was shuddering, wailing in agony.

When she had finally stopped, Remus held her, wishing that it didn't have to be that way, that there was some sort of cure to stop the attacks "I'm so sorry…" he mumbled, rocking her backwards and forwards, tear streaming down his face. Her hair stopped changing, turning jet black. "Tonks?" he stopped rocking. He had never seen her with black hair before. Did that mean… no…. "NO!" he screamed. He put his head against hers. She was dead, and it was his fault. Sirius was going to kill him; That was, if Remus didn't kill himself first.

Dumbledore sighed, sitting at his desk. He knew that right now, two student were sat in the Shrieking Shack, two students who he knew where in love, but wouldn't admit it to themselves or anyone around. "Don't leave her, Mr. Lupin." He muttered, "She is not dead. Don't leave her…" he stopped muttering to himself when Professor McGonagall stormed through the door. "This is enough, Albus! The students constantly staring at the Marauders. The whole school Is talking about Miss Nymphadora, the poor girl. She gets nothing but hassle, she does. She needs to stay away from those Marauders, Albus. Far, far away!" she stormed out as quickly as she had come, hurrying to Gryffindor common room to find the Marauders and give them all detentions.

Remus was determined to get Tonks back to Hogwarts, dead or not. He had to know what was going on, why her hair had gone black. He had to stop over twenty times. Her body was like lead. He got about half way before he collapsed under the wait. He fell funny, so funny that he felt his ankle snap. He yelled in pain, tears bubbling angrily in his eyes. Tonks lay motionless beside him. "Tonks, please, wake up!" he yelled, tears soaking his robes. He rested his forehead on her stomach and cried. What had he done? Why had this happened? "Help!" he bellowed, breaking down in an angry, teary state. Suddenly, he heard a small mumbling sound. "Remus?" Tonks was waking up, and she opened her eyes. she couldn't see anything, it was so dark. "Remus!" she screamed. She felt strong arms wrap around her, and wet against her face. "It's me, It's okay…" Remus soothed, "I thought you were dead…" he cried into her hair. She still couldn't see anything, and she felt like hell. "Why do I feel like I've been hit by a bus?" she mumbled. Remus smiled, slightly, and explained to her that she'd had another attack. "Why can't I see?" she asked. Remus looked at her worriedly. "You can't see?" he broke down again when she nodded, terrified. He may not of killed her, but he may of made her blind. "I can't walk, Tonks… if you help me, I can walk us back to Hogwarts, because I can still see." He was trying to act calm, be sensible, try to think of a plan, but inside he was roaring. Tonks could barely hold Remus' weight, and neither had a wand to fix his broken ankle, but eventually they got to Gryffindor tower. They didn't need to tell the Singing Lady a password – she let them in immediately. Lily gasped when the two stumbled through the door, both wailing in pain and fright. "What happened?" she yelled, the common room quieting. "She had another attack, and she was unconscious and I broke my ankle and she can't see, and – and –" he broke down again, Tonks collapsing as he fell against her. James and Sirius helped Remus over to the sofa, while the common room stared at Tonks as Lily helped her past. "Take Remus to the infirmary, James, I'll help Tonks down." "No, I'm fine, Lily, help Remus." Tonks begged. Remus sighed. "Ignore her, Lily, just help her." He stumbled over to the open painting, with Tonks and Lily following close behind. Tonks stopped. "No, Remus. Lily, help him and-" "Nymphadora Tonks you listen to me! you could be blind! Get down to the infirmary or I swear I will kill you!" not only was it the first time Gryffindor common room had heard Remus yell, but it was the first time a Marauder had called Nymphadora by her first name. they were even more surprised when she allowed Lily to escort her out of the room, without another word.

Sirius paced outside the Infirmary. "You do that a lot when you're worried…" whispered Peter, trying to enlighten the mood. It wasn't working. Suddenly, Pomphrey opened the door. Sirius' head rapidly turned towards her. "they want you, Sirius, but only you." he pointed at the boy, who combed his fingers through his tousled black hair. He almost ran into the infirmary, and cried out in relief when he saw that Tonks' eyes were back to their normal colour. "Thank god you're okay!" he said. It wasn't the first time Tonks had seen Sirius cry, but it was the first time Remus had. He looked at them both. "What the hell happened?" he asked. Tonks explained that, when Metamorphs had really bad attacks, they went unconscious for potentially weeks, and then were temporarily blind. Remus looked at her, tears in his eyes. "I thought you were dead… Tonks, I'm so sorry…" he turned over, not wanting either of them to see him cry. Sirius sighed. "If you want to date her, you can…" he whispered. The Infirmary was completely empty, and the pair heard him perfectly. Remus was about to reply when Tonks cut in. "No. If Remus doesn't like me, then it isn't fair to make him. now, if you would please go, Sirius, I'm really tired." She curled up, and closed her eyes. Sirius glanced at her again as he left, worried. It was then that he realised just how much she loved Remus.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Sirius held Tonks at arms length, staring at her. "You only came out of the Infirmary to say bye. You're 100% sure that you don't want to come with me?" Tonks laughed. "I think I'd rather spend a week with Filch than with Aunt Wally!" the Marauders laughed at Tonks' nickname for Walburga Black, Sirius' mother. "I'll be fine. Besides, Remus is staying so it's not like I'm entirely alone. If anything happens, we'll send you an owl." she smiled as the four students boarded the train, levitating their trunks before them. Tonks grinned at Remus. "We should've told them shouldn't we?" she asked. Remus nodded, before sitting on the wall beside the train station. "Sirius will go bonkers if he finds out we're spending Christmas in Hogsmead. I checked with Pomphrey, by the way, and she said we can leave tonight. You just need one more check up on your eyes and I need my ankle sorting again. Merlin, I can't wait for that, it's so painful. Why she had to fix it the Muggle way I have no clue." They laughed, walking slowly up to the castle with the other students who had also gone to wave their friends off. It took over twenty minutes to climb back to Gryffindor that night, when they were finally released from Pomphrey's watchful eye. Remus ginned, flexing his toes on the couch. It was roughly midnight, but the pair weren't even beginning to feel tired.

Tonks and Remus grinned at eachother, cramped under the Invisibility Cloak that James had left them. they hadn't known it, but he'd given them the cloak in the hope that they'd finally realise that they liked eachother. "stop, Filch!" Remus put his arm across Tonks as they neared the corner, and sure enough Filch appeared a second later, his cat Mrs. Norris slinking along beside him. He sniffed the air grumpily. "The werewolf. He's been here. awful creatures they are, always after you, my beauty. Don't worry sweetie I'll find him. he'll be out of this school in three years anyway, and he can take his friends with him. especially that girl, her hair gives me the creeps." He shiffled along, as Tonks' hair flushed red. Remus held her mouth shut with one hand to stop her from yelling, whilst trying to keep them hidden with the other. "That ugly Squib!" snapped Tonks, once they were out of earshot. Remus' eyes widened. "Don't let Lily or Sirius hear you calling him that. They don't particularily like it. that's Malfoy's name for them." Lucius Malfoy was three years older than Remus, and in his opinion, the scum of the earth. He was by far the most prejudice man Remus knew. Tonks looked the large, damp, moss covered wall in front of her. "... Pureblood." She whispered. The wall almost dissolved, revealing a door to the Slytherin common room. Remus grinned as they went inside, concealed by the cloak. He had several dung bombs in his hand, Tonks had a few more. Most of the students were sat in the common room, always disobeying the curfew, but nobody seemed to notice that the door had opened randomly. Remus and Tonks threw the dung bombs down, before bolting it. they ran and ran until they were absolutely sure there were no more Slytherins chasing after them. Remus panted, massaging his sore ankle, before covering them both with the cloak again and taking Tonks up to Gryffindor tower for a good night's rest.

Christmas morning started very early for Tonks. She was dressed in her red jumper and jeans, and she was already in Gryffindor tower when Remus slumped out of the fifth year boys' room. He jumped when he saw Tonks' familiar teal hair, which was in two bunches. "Merry Christmas!" she grinned. He smiled back, and they both left the common room, making their way to one of Hogwarts' many escapes to Hogsmead, the One-Eyed Witch passage. They climbed in, careful in making sure that there was no one around to see them. They arrived in Honeydukes about an hour later, after trekking through the extremely long tunnel to the sweetshop in Hogsmead. The shop was very busy, as usual, and Remus and Tonks blended in well. They first looked around that shop. "I never did like honey." Gagged Tonks, as she watched it gloop around in a container. Remus laughed, before leading her to the Three Broomsticks. They ordered Tonks' favourite Butterbear and took one of the many tables. Remus beckoned for Frank to come over; his mother owned the Three Broomsticks, so during the holidays he would stay there. "It's a bit empty isn't it?" Remus asked. He smiled at the pair, before looking around. "Christmas Day always is. Everyone's with their families. I'm surprised you two aren't staying with James this year, you normally do. Oh, wait, are you on a date." Tonks snorted into her cup, almost spitting out the Butterbear in her mouth. Remus flushed red. "No, we aren't. just friends. James and Lily are going Down Under." Frank nodded, still looking back and forth at the two. She grinned. "No, of course you aren't." she winked at Remus, before going over to someone who had just entered the pub and wishing them a Merry Christmas. Remus gasped. "Heads down," he mumbled, "It's Flitwick."

Professor Flitwick sat two tables away from the two of them, just in earshot of what they were saying. "If he finds out we're out of the Castle, we'll get expelled!" suddenly the door opened again, and McGonagall entered. She stopped, staring at Remus and Tonks. "Mr. Lupin? Miss. Tonks? What on Earth are you doing out of the Castle?" Tonks was about to answer when Augusta Longbottom appeared behind them. "I asked them over for Christmas. They came escorted of course! Nothing to worry about!" McGonagall smiled, though she was still suspicious, and Remus turned to look at Augusta. She winked before going back behind the bar. She was one of the few people who knew about the Marauders' trips to Hogsmead. After all, she had served them many times. Tonks sighed heavily. "That was close." She said, taking another gulp of her drink.

Sirius, James, Lily and Peter returned on the fourth of January. "You went to Hogsmead without us again? I feel so betrayed!" James laughed as he curled into a ball at the end of the sofa, sulking. They had decided to trade presents the day that they returned to Hogwarts. Tonks looked at her gifts happily. Sweets from Peter, a plastic snitch from James, hair bobbles from Sirius, who was always the joker, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them from Lily and a small vile of Felix Felicis from Remus. "He got that from Slughorn for the best Draught of Living Death. Snape was most pleased, not. He was glaring at him from a mile away!" laughed Sirius, as Tonks admired the golden liquid. James grinned. "Don't you think it looks like pee?" he asked, making all of the Marauders go "Eew!" and then laughing extremely hard. Tonks didn't really pay much attention to everyone else's presents. She'd got Sirius a flea collar as a teaser, Lily some red heart hair slides, then she'd got James and Peter sweets, and then for Remus she gave a first edition Quidditch Through The Ages book, signed by Ludo Bagman, the Wimbourne Wasps' Beater. But that was nothing compared to the Felix Felicis, beautifully shimmering in its oddly shaped glass container. She opened it carefully, before smelling it. Remus watched her, every so often glancing at his other friends, making sure they didn't notice. She smiled when the sweet aroma reached her nose, before she pressed the cork into the top once more and looked back at her friends. "So, off to Lunch are we?" she grinned, before leaving the common room with her friends. "She's acting really weird…" mumbled Sirius, watching his cousin as she twirled around the hallway. James nodded, worried. "Remus, did she drink any of that Felix Felicis? She's acting crazy, I've never seen her do something girly like that." Beside him, Lily giggled and joined her friend in the twirling. "I'm not on Felicis, but she looks like she's having fun." The two girls laughed as they spun through the corridors, almost knocking over several other pupils. Tonks looked up dizzily. "Hey, Remus!" she stepped forward, stumbling, and grabbing hold of Remus' neck. She laughed as he caught her. "Isn' Hogwarts wonderful, Rem? Don' you jus' wanna stay 'ere forver?" her words were extremely slurred, like she'd been drinking Firewhiskey. Lily stopped spinning and stared at her friends. "Maybe we should skip lunch…" she said. Sirius and Remus nodded, but Tonks stood up. "No, I hungry! Besides, I 'ave to go an' say 'lo to the Slythers!" she laughed as the Marauders ran after her as she tore towards the Great Hall. She was a lot faster than usual, and even Remus couldn't catch her up.

"Mornin' Lovies!" Tonks grinned, sitting beside Severus at the Slytherin table. The looked at her, completely baffled. "Isn' today won'erful? I could r'lly do wiv some Butterbeer, am I right?" she laughed, resting her head on the table. Remus was the first to reach the Great Hall, and he immediately stormed towards the lime green haired girl, meaning she was extremely happy. He grabbed her arm, practically dragging her off the seat. She looked at him angrily, but her hair didn't change. "Ooh, Mr Grumpy Pants is 'ere! Come to spoil my fun, eh?" she laughed hysterically, as Sirius grabbed her other arm. "She's reminding me of Bellatrix!" he sighed, as they dragged her towards the Gryffindor table, much to her protest. "Stop! Lego of me! I have rights, you know!" she said, trying to escape the boys' grasp. Most of the Slytherin table was crying from laughing so much, and even the professors at the front were finding the whole thing rather enjoyable. "Tonks, why are you being so weird?" asked Sirius, the girl squirming in his hands. She laughed, bending over and stopping them from moving again. "Crazy good, Siri. You should try it som'time. You never take me to Hogsmead! Ooh, that's a good idea! Remus, take me to Hogsmead." She slammed her head on the table as they threw her down, though she didn't seem particularily bothered. She was still being held by Remus, who was making sure she didn't get up to visit her 'Dear Friends' again.

"Ow, my head hurts." Moaned Tonks, sitting up. She was expecting to be in Gryiffindor tower, or at the Whomping Willow, but instead she was in the Infirmary, her friends looking at her worriedly. "Did I have another attack?" she asked, panicked. Remus shook his head and looked to his feet. "You reacted… badly… to the potion I gave you… I should've thought, ugh! Why am I such an idiot!" he shoved his forehead into his palm, angry with himself. James was struggling not to laugh. "you called the Slytherins 'My Lovelies', and tried to hug Snape. It was hilarious, it was like you were drunk out of your mind! You wanted to go to Hogsmead too, you had the whole Great Hall in tears!" he was laughing again, along with Peter, who was trying very hard not to. Lily scowled at them both. "She was under the Felix Felicis. This one, I discovered, put you under it's effects with the smell. Stupid, really, giving that to students." She rolled her eyes, hating on Slughorn as usual. Remus looked sadly at Tonks. "I'm so sorry. God, why is it always my fault? I always hurt you!" he stood up and stormed out, fighting back tears. James and Sirius glanced at eachother, before James got up and went after him. "Don't. let James go." Lily said, holding Sirius back as he tried to leave. Tonks' eyes filled with tears. The Marauders were better off without her, she thought, after all, she always caused Remus to cry or yell or something. She smiled at Lily, Sirius and Peter, although they had no idea that it was actually a goodbye smile. "Goodnight." She curled into a ball, and a single tear dropped off her cheek. She would put an end to their misery once and for all.

Remus lay on his bed, his face in his pillow. "Why do I always screw up?" he asked James, who was sitting at the end of his bed. James shrugged. "Love can do nutty things to your brain, mate, and-" "Never mind, leave it." Remus didn't need to hear about how he loved Tonks. Not now. Did James and Lily think he didn't already know? James sighed. "You like eachother, Remus, I don't see why you can't just admit it already!" Remus groaned angrily. why didn't they get it? "I'm a werewolf, James, she doesn't need to look after me on top of looking after herself. And, say we did end up together, I wouldn't be able to give her a child. It'd have my condition, most likely. She deserves better, James, can't you see that? She has her life ahead of her. She can have children, get married, live happily ever after. I can't, and those two things don't mix. She'd only get tired after a few years and leave anyway." James blinked, taken aback by this sudden outburst. "You have your life ahead of you too, Remus." Sirius, Lily and Peter were back, and had silently slipped into the dorm. Sirius silently sat on his bed, before pulling the covers over himself and flicking his bedside lamp off. Remus looked at him. What was that supposed to mean? "Night." He said.

Tonks opened the trap door of the Shrieking Shack, tears in her eyes. it was a damn good job she wasn't bad at potions, that Sleeping Draught had worked really well on Pomphrey, giving her enough time to collect some of her things from Hufflepuff tower and escape. She made her way through Hogsmead. It looked so different at night, much more daunting. She stopped every so often to look through shop windows, remembering all the times she'd visited with her friends. It was in their best interest that she do this. Her eyes filled with fresh tears as she passed the Three Broomsticks, determined not to stop. Yelling and cheering filled the street, coming from it's bright windows. She opened the door, greeted by several groups of drunks. She went straight to the bar, avoiding eye contact with everyone. "Butterbear, please." She asked Augusta. She looked at the girl worriedly, filling a glass. "It's a bit late, isn't it?" she said, eyeing her up suspiciously. Tonks shrugged. "Nah," she shrugged, hoping she looked casual, "I just fancied one." Augusta shrugged, still doubtful, before handing her drink over. She swigged it down, before leaving the bar for quite possibly the final time.

Morning dawned in the Forbidden Forest, and Nymphadora's eyes flicked open. It took her a moment to realise why she was beside a large lake in the centre of the Forbidden Forest, and when she did eventually remember she almost started crying. No, she couldn't cry about simple things anymore. She had to protect herself. She; d brought her books, so that she could practise and revise spells. She could return to Hogwarts in three years' time, when Remus and Sirius and Lily had left for good. She'd have to wait until then, if she actually wanted to cut them off completely. She couldn't believe that she'd have to wait another year almost to get the train back to her home. Then she could truly run away for good. Her mother would let her, if she told her that she was constantly bullied for her condition. She could be home schooled then, and she'd never be able to hurt Remus again… her eyes felt heavy, and she really wanted to sleep, but she knew that the forest was too dangerous. She hadn't even meant to fall asleep during the night, and was lucky to be alive. She splashed some of the lake's freezing water on her face, which woke her up. She opened her black backpack, in which she had packed – "No!" she felt so stupid! How could she have forgotten clothes! Her books, Quill, parchment, she'd even brought her toothbrush! Yet, as she searched her bag, she discovered that there was no room for clothes anywhere, and there were no clothes either. She's have to go back to the castle and bring her trunk. But, no, she couldn't. she didn't know the spell for levitating, most of the time James or Remus did it for her. Remus… she missed him, his warm smile and witty comments, constantly teasing Sirius and thinking of brilliant pranks to pull on the school. There would be no more pranks now, not now that she'd left Hogwarts for good.

Sirius paced the common room anxiously. "You're sure she wasn't there?" he said. Remus rolled his eyes. "Of course I'm sure! Pomphrey was frantic, mental. She put Sleeping Draught in her tea. Sirius, she's-" Sirius stopped, pointing angrily at Remus. "Don't say it!" he bellowed, "She wouldn't… she wouldn't leave us, especially not you." he looked at the werewolf, who had gone slightly pink. "She got Dumbledore, I think he already called the Aurors and that, they're looking for her. They… they say that maybe He took her, Metamorphs can be powerful…" Lily mumbled, receiving a glare from James. "He doesn't need to hear that his cousin's been taken with his other family members, Lil. Please, don't do it to them. Remus likes her, he's probably terrified for her life-" Remus had stood up suddenly. "Sirius, James, Peter, come on, it's been too long, she'll have gone through Hogsmead, I know she will. If she has left then she'll have got a Butterbeer. She loves the stuff." Stay sensible, Remus. Think straight.

They got to Hogsmead a short while later. "Yeah, she came through last night. I thought something was wrong. She looked like she was going to cry. Mumbling' to herself, she was." Sirius leaned on the bar, staring Augusta in the eye. "What did she say, exactly?" he asked. Augusta shrugged, wiping the bar with a damp clothes, "She wasn't exactly yelling, but it was something like, 'it'll be better for them if I do this', and 'it's a clean slate for us'-" she never got to finish, as Remus had already left, tearing out of the bar. James caught up first. "Remus, you won't find her on your own!" he panted, dragging behind. Remus stopped, flipping around, tears pricking his eyes. "I have to, James!" he was completely ignoring the fact that the Marauders were closer now, and they could all hear what he was saying. "I have to find her James, I have to! I love her!" he ran off again, leaving the Marauders in shock. They all knew it, but they never imagined he'd say it out loud, especially not somewhere as crowded as Hogsmead. As he neared the edge of the village, he stopped. If he were Nymphadora, where would he go? he span round and round, trying to think like her. Then he saw the dark leaves and knew immediately where she'd be.

Tonks was staring, terrified, in every direction. She could've sworn she'd heard a twig crack, she was positive. "Well if it isn't Morphy?" said a sneery voice. She turned to where the voice had come from, seeing Freddie Crabbe smirking at her. "Someone's been a naughty girl. Should we punish her?" the second voice was coming from Gregory Goyle, and extremely perverted Slytherin. Crabbe smiled nastily. "Nah, let's play a little first." He smiled, before pulling out his wand, "Anteoculatia!" yelled Goyle, and Tonks felt her hair twist into a pair of antlers. She stepped back. "Oh, no you don't! Locomotor Mortis!" Tonks' legs stuck together, and she fell to the ground. Goyle laughed, as Crabbe pulled one of her antlers to lift her up. She yelped in pain. "Can we make her suffer now, Crabbe?" asked Goyle. Crabbe sighed. "Fine, but aim properly. And don't kill her, I don't need murderer on my profile." He smiled, dropping Tonks back onto the dirt. Goyle held out his wand as Crabbe rushed beside him. "Crucio!" he yelled. Tonks yelled in pain as it felt like knifes were cutting into her skin, slowly. They seemed to enjoy watching her squirm in agony, laughing hysterically. Her face contorted as the torture tore through her body. Goyle released the spell, looking at the girl, who was panting. "let's leave something for her to remember us by, shall we?" smirked Crabbe, "Diffindo!" Tonks felt like someone had ripped her skin apart like paper. She had tons of open cuts everywhere, covering every inch of her body. "Expelliarmus!" Tonks heard an extremely familiar voice behind her, and Goyle and Crabbe's wands flew out of their hands. Remus had found her. Even if she wasn't locked at the legs, she was in too much pain to move. She was laid on many of the cuts, and she was aching all over. Remus looked at Tonks, who was covered in red gashes. "Ah, Wolfie's here to protect his princess! How sweet!" Goyle laughed. Remus' blood boiled over. They'd hurt her. They'd hurt Tonks, and they were not getting away with it. "Stupefy!" the two boys fell to the ground unconscious, and Remus knelt beside Tonks. Tears fell from his eyes. "What did they do to you?" Tonks gasped for air, still recovering from the torture she had endured. "they used Cruciatus…" she mumbled. Remus gasped and picked her up. She screamed in pain, as he was forced to touch her cuts as he carried her to the castle. Please say Madame Pomphrey could help her. She didn't deserve this…


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Madame Pomphrey gasped as Remus burst into the Infirmary. "What on Earth happened here?" she yelled, as Remus lay Tonks gently on the bed. "It was Crabbe and Goyle. They used Cruciatus on her." Madame Pomphrey gasped again, brushing the girl's hair out of her face. "Oh, sweetheart, you poor thing. Mr. Lupin, please go and fetch Dumbledore. Go!" Remus rushed out, panic tearing him up. He reached Dumbledore's office in record time. "Professor! Tonks! She's had the Cruciatus Curse put on her!" Dumbledore, who was sat in a meeting with McGonagall, Slughorn and Flitwick, stood, anger contorting his face. "Cruciatus?" McGonagall stood, before rushing out with Dumbledore and the other professors. "How did this happen?" McGonagall said, gaping at the girl's badly injured body. Remus raked his hands through his hair, tears of anger and panic rolling down his face. "She ran away to the Forbidden Forest, and Crabbe and Goyle found her and they hurt her and I knocked them unconscious." Remus was staring at Tonks. How dare they hurt her! She had done nothing to them, nothing at all, yet they'd hurt her like this. Slughorn tutted, shaking his head as Pomphrey tried to care for Tonks' wounds, much to her distress. "You did well to knock them out, Remus my boy, but what exactly did they do to her? Surely the Cruciatus wouldn't cut her like that. "They leg-locked her so she couldn't run, then tortured her…. Then they used the Severing Charm." His whole body was shaking with anger as he told him the pain they'd inflicted on her. Flitwick sighed sadly. "They stopped her running then tortured her? Cowards." He muttered. McGonagall, who had been watching as the girl yelled in pain, turned to Remus. "Where is Sirius and Lily?" she asked. Remus told her where he had left them, and in a second McGonagall had disappeared.

After about five minutes, McGonagall returned, with Sirius, Lily, James and Peter beside her. Lily gasped when she saw Tonks, immediately bursting into tears. Sirius, who was speechless, ran straight to Tonks and knelt beside her. "I'm going to kill them." he whispered. No one tried to stop him as he stormed out of the Infirmary. Lily looked up at Remus. "Thank you, for saving her. You were right, you did have to find her." She said. Remus nodded, not taking his eyes off Pomphrey, who was forced to heal the cuts one by one, causing poor Tonks great pain. After a moment, Pomphrey looked up. "You shouldn't have to watch this. Go, leave me to do my work, please." The Marauders did as they were told, but never left the corridor outside the Infirmary. Lily was overcome with worry for her best friend, but she couldn't help but wonder where Sirius was. Tonks would've been deep, deep into the Forest, and Crabbe and Goyle would've woken up. He wouldn't go to Slytherin, even he couldn't take them all on. All she knew was that she'd never seen him so angry in her life, and she had, after all, lived with them for five years.

The following month was rather normal; well, normal for the Marauders anyhow. After Tonks was released from the Infirmary, walking around was still painful. "It's a side effect of the Cruciatus Curse. If she'd endured it any longer she could've gone crazy or worse." Pomphrey had said, the day she'd let her out. Lily, Remus and Sirius were refusing to take their eyes off her. They'd even got permission from Dumbledore for her to sleep in the Gryffindor girls' room, and to sit with the Gryffindors at lunch. She did not go to lessons, instead she had to go through hours of painful physio with Pomphrey. "I know it's painful, dear, but they could've left you paralyzed. If your friend Mr. Lupin hadn't got there when he did, who knows what they could've done to you." she said, on Tonks' third session. Tonks had merely grunted, shuffling around in circles. At night, after her long lessons, she'd simply sit in the common room with the Marauders. She always missed Breakfast and Lunch, and the Marauders could see that she was getting considerably thinner. "You need to eat. Here, we nicked these from the kitchens. Those house elves give anything away." Lily sighed. "They should've have to do that, you know. Didn't you see them? They were barely wearing anything!" she said, as Tonks stuffed food in her mouth. Sirius shrugged, much to the anger of the red haired girl. "It's abuse, I'm telling you! 'They like it' my backside!" she said, rushing off to bed. Remus watched Tonks eat. She looked so thin he could probably put his fingers around her arm, and still touch his thumb and forefinger. Tonks suddenly stopped eating, staring at one of her many scars. "I'm sorry." She whispered. Sirius looked at her. "I'm sorry I ran away. I just thought that you'd be better off without me, because all I ever do is make everyone upset. You argue all the time, it was never like that before, when I wasn't around. I'm sorry!" tears were furiously dropping off her face, and Sirius pulled her into a hug. "You do not cause us to argue, Tonks, you know that. We would no way be better off without you! I'd never be able to say that there is someone else sane in the family, would i? Mom already scratched us off the tree. I was terrified, Tonks. Please, please never do that again!" he was fighting tears, knowing full well that his friends were watching him, almost on the brink of a meltdown. Suddenly Tonks felt another pair of arms around her. Lily had been listening, and was hugging her friend. in the end, the three of them ended up a crying heap on the floor. Remus watched on, wanting nothing more than to join in, tell Tonks that it would be okay, that it wasn't her fault. But he knew he couldn't, because then she'd know, and he needed to protect her from the painful truth – she deserved better.

Valentine's Day was next week, and Tonks still didn't have a date for the ball that was held every year on the fourteenth. Lily was going with James, and Sirius was sworn on not going. "If I have to go, I'll flipping dance with Peter. Girls just throw themselves all over you." he shuddered, thinking of Marlene McKinnon, a fifth year Gryffindor who was clearly madly in love with him. Tonks laughed. "To be honest, I don't really think I'm going to be going either. It's just embarrassing, a girl not having a date. And I mean, who'd want to go with the girl who spend most of her time in Hospital." She laughed slightly, though she was clearly disappointed. James glanced at Remus, who was staring at the ground. "Why don't you and Remus go? Just as friends, I mean." Lily nodded. She knew what he was trying to do. They'd got Remus to admit it, now they just needed Tonks to crack. Tonks looked at Remus, who was still staring at the floor. "He probably already has a date, you know. It's fine, really. I don't much like dresses anyway." Remus looked up. "What? I- I don't mind. I mean, just as friends, yeah?" Tonks smiled slightly, the butterflies that she often felt when around Remus returning. "Yeah, sure. Just as friends." Sirius looked at them both. He wanted to stop them. it just didn't feel right, his cousin and one of his best mates, but he knew full well that they liked eachother, and it was just mean to keep them apart. He nodded. "Great, now you girls need to go and pretty yourselves up, and we'll just sling on something or other, and then we're all set. I don't need a date, enough girls will dance with me anyway!" he grinned, making friends laugh. Tonks was going with Remus, but it was just as friends. She had to remember that. Just as Friends.

Nymphadora was so excited about the Valentine's Dance. She couldn't believe she was going with Remus, even if he did think it was a 'Just as Friends' thing. She spent hours in the Gryffindor fifth years room, getting ready. Lily had helped with her make-up, Alice with her hair and Marlene with her clothes. She didn't like the idea of wearing a dress with red hearts on it, but like Lily said, she would do anything for Remus. He was just as nervous. He was wearing the suit his mother had sent him, and was attaching the rose. Sirius kept shooting him glances, and James noticed this. "Sirius, if you're going to say something, say it now." He said. Sirius sighed and walked over to Remus, who was now combing his fingers through his hair. "I don't feel comfortable with you dating my cousin." "Second cousin, Sirius, and we're not dating. We are simply going as friends." Sirius laughed sarcastically. "you even said it yourself, and I'm not stupid, Rem. Sure date her, but if you break her heart it'll be the last thing you do." Remus rolled his eyes and glanced at James, who shrugged. Peter looked worriedly at Sirius. "Why are you so protective? I'm not trying to start anything… I'm just asking…" Sirius glared at him, before sitting on his bed. "Andromeda and Tonks are the only ones in my family who don't hate me. You know, they're actually nice people who don't want to kill innocents. If it was Bella I wouldn't care, he could smash her face in, I'd probably help, but not Tonks. She's the baby of us, because Lucius is more than likely petrified of kids, the wimp, and Bella would probably eat hers or something." Just then there was a knock on the door. "Boys? It's Lily… and Tonks… we're here for you…." the two girls giggled excitedly, and the Marauders opened the door.

Their mouths hung open. Lily looked beautiful, her red hair swept into a neat bun atop her head, and Tonks' in adorable pigtails, her bangs framing her face. Their makeup was subtle, but the Marauders never saw the point of it anyway. James grinned and kissed Lily on the cheek. Her dress was emerald green, to match her eyes, and Sirius smirked. "Don't tell us now that you're going Slytherin, Lils." He received a punch as the three of them went out of the common room. "Come on, Rem." Shouted Peter, following them. Remus couldn't move. Tonks truly looked gorgeous, far better than Lily in his opinion. She smiled sweetly before taking his arm and pulling him towards the door. "I'm not good at dancing, so you might end up with a few broken toes, but I'm sure you'll manage. We're in the Infirmary enough anyways!" His mouth was still hanging open, and Sirius pinched his shoulder as they walked past. "Remember, Rem, break her and I'll break you." Remus gulped at this warning, but walked on anyways. How could he pass up a night with a girl as beautiful as this?

"God, I hate dresses." Tonks and Remus were taking a break from dancing, instead watching James and Lily. "You look gorgeous." The words came out of Remus' mouth before he could stop them, and Tonks' hair turned pink with embarrassment. Remus felt his face go hot. "I'm going to get some fresh air, coming?" he smiled at her. Hopefully by the time they got outside the red in his cheeks would've faded. She nodded and followed him. The cold made Tonks shiver when they went through the doors. "You okay?" asked Remus. He was freezing, and was wearing a long-sleeved shirt. He couldn't imagine what she felt like with nothing covering her arms. He smiled. "Wait here, I'll be about five minutes." he ran off, leaving Tonks stood in the cold. Something warm touched her arm. "Hey, beautiful." She turned to find Goyle, a boy in the year above the Marauders, by her side. "Go away, I don't want to hear it." She snapped, wrapping her arms around herself. Goyle was a well-known Death Eater, and here she was, alone with him. it was different when he and Crabbe had attacked her, she didn't know them, but Sirius had told her all about how they were supporters of Him. "But, you're so pretty…" he stroked her neck with the tips of his fingers, making a cold, icy tingle run up her spine. This boy was major creepy. "Leave me alone, you creep." She said, nervous now. Her hair changed to a deep green colour. "Ah, nervous are we, pretty little lady? You should be. After all, you know what we did to you last time." His face was right next to hers now, his lips almost touching her ear. Suddenly she felt a something small on the bottom of her spine. "Move and it'll be lights out, gorgeous." She went for her wand before realising something. She'd left it in Gryffindor Common Room.

Remus ran quickly toward where he had left Tonks. He knew something was wrong, he could feel it. He stopped, panting, before concealing himself behind a pillar. He could hear voices from outside. "So, beautiful, how's Wolfie, eh? Your new boyfriend is he? Don't play dumb with me!" he heard a small whimper, and a deep chuckle. "The Dark Lord will love you. Strong, powerful… gorgeous. But… who knows? I meet keep you all to myself-" "Stupefy!" Remus leaped from behind the pillar, and over Goyle's unconscious body, pulled Tonks from the cold. They stood for a moment, Tonks sobbing into Remus' shoulder, before it truly sunk in what had happened. "Come on, we're going to Gryffindor." Remus pulled Tonks, whose eyes were wide, to where he had been just five minutes ago. They sat in the empty common room, Tonks' head on his shoulder. Tears were silently running down her face. "What did he do to you?" whispered Remus. "He didn't…." Tonks sat up and faced him, streaks in her makeup. "No. no, he didn't do anything like that. He… he threatened to kill me, and he said that… You Know Who would want me. because I'm a Metamorphmagus, you know. he had a wand to my back. He kissed my cheek, it was awful." She wrapped her arms around the werewolf, "Thank you, Remus, thank you so much for saving me… he'd of taken me, or killed me… like last time…" she looked into his eyes, and they kissed. It was slow and romantic, the way Tonks had always dreamed. Remus knew that Sirius would kill him, but he just couldn't stop himself. She was such a good kisser, brilliant in fact. He loved her, and he knew it.

Sirius, James, Lily, Peter and Alice entered the common room two hours later. They had finally noticed that Remus and Tonks were missing, and had decided to look here. When they looked up, Sirius ran to where Tonks was asleep, her head on Remus' shoulder. His eyes were glassy and was staring into space. "What did you do to her?" yelled Sirius. Remus jumped, waking from his daze. Tonks slowly opened her eyes. "What did you do to her?" Sirius repeated. Tonks shook her head, and her eyes filled with tears again. "Sirius… he didn't do anything… it was Goyle…" She stood and hugged Sirius, who pulled away and put her at arm's length, his hands on her shoulders. "What did he do then?" Tonks went through what had happened again, and by the end of the story, Lily was hugging her and she was in tears again. Sirius stood up. "Where did you leave him?" he said, his expression stony. Remus shook his head. "Don't do anything stupid-" "Where the hell is he, Remus? He needs to pay, I never got to do anything the first time!" Sirius raised his voice again, making Tonks flinch. She hated it when her cousin was angry, as someone always got hurt. Remus sighed. "Near the main entrance." Sirius stormed out of the room, leaving the five students in silence.

"where is Goyle?" Sirius stood in front of his brother, who sighed. "Where is, god damn it!" he slammed his hand into the wall beside him, making several people in the hall jump. "I don't know, why do you want him?" asked Regulus. He leaned on the wall and looked at his older brother. "because he threatened to kill our cousin, and he nearly did." Sirius saw a glimmer of worry in Regulus' eyes. "we were about to go looking for him." he gestured towards Snape and Crabbe, who both had their wands out ready, in case Sirius tried to take their minion. "Don't bother, I'll do it for you." he rose his voice enough to say this, and stormed toward the school's main entrance. "What was that about?" questioned Crabbe. Regulus shrugged. "I don't know," he lied, "Something about threatening." Crabbe smiled gleefully. "Good, Sirius needs to be taught a lesson, right?" Severus nodded. Regulus may have been a Death Eater, but he wasn't going to put is family on the line for as long as he could.

Goyle was just coming around when he felt a small circle on his neck. Sirius Black stood beside him, half in the shadows. "Ever threaten my cousin again, and you will die. I never got to actually hurt you last time, what a shame." Goyle smiled, a gruesome smile that made your stomach churn. "It's a good job her dearest Wolfie was there once again. Isn't it lovely, having your best friend dating you cousin? Sorry, didn't you know?" Sirius hard expression slipped for a moment, but the grip on his wand stayed still. "They were snogging in the dance hall, you know, while you were dancing with that puny little friend of yours. You couldn't even find a girlfriend you pathetic-" Sirius snapped, angrily jabbing the wand into the Slytherin's neck. He yelped in pain. "Locomotor Mortis!" said Sirius. Goyle's legs glued together, and he glared at Sirius as he bunny hopped towards the dungeons. Sirius watched, before yelling after him, "Let's see how you like it, you pathetic creep!"

The whole Slytherin table were glaring at the Marauders the following day at Breakfast. "Obviously Goyle snitched, the coward." Muttered Sirius. Tonks kept glancing at Remus, aware that his cheeks were burning red. Clearly he remembered the kiss too. James and Lily were looking between them both. Lily leaned towards James, whispering, "Something happened between them." James nodded, looking at the two, who were both staring into their plates. He cleared his throat. "So what happened after the whole Goyle thing?" he yelped as Lily kicked him under the table. Tonks' hair turned slightly pink, and Remus' face went red. "Nothing much." Murmured Tonks, trying to stay calm and not blurt it out. "We went back to the common room and I fell asleep." Remus looked up at her, slightly disappointed. She didn't remember. Lily nodded. "That's cool, but you must've dropped off quickly. It can't have been that long before we came in. Did he put some kind of charm on you?" she meant it as a joke that was covering a hint. Tonks smiled, pretending to not notice. He had definitely put a charm on her alright. "no, I was just really tired." Sirius looked up from his porridge, saying, "Did you two snog last night?" Tonks' eyes widened. How did he know? "What? No, of course not! Why would you think that?" Sirius laughed. "Goyle said that you were snogging in the Great Hall. I just wanted to make sure he was lying." Tonks breathed out. Good, he didn't know that they had, in fact kissed. Lily and James, however, now knew that something had definitely happened.

"Did you see the way they acted when Sirius asked that? Remus went even redder than he already was, and Tonks was so panicked. I think they kissed in the common room." Lily said to James, as they walked up to Divination. Sirius and Peter had quit the class, sick of hearing that they were going to be eaten by a vale and strangled. James nodded. "Yeah, I saw too. Sirius is so stupid; how did he not catch on? It's so obvious that they had a snog, then felt bad about it and are trying to keep it a secret. They barely talked to eachother." Lily nodded as they filed into their class.

The Marauders were completely silent as they sat in the Library that dinnertime. Sirius kept looking at his friends. Usually James and Lily were chatting, or Remus was telling Tonks some awful joke that she laughed at anyway. "What is wrong with you all?" he asked, "you're so quiet!" Lily and James looked at eachother, then at Remus and Tonks, who hadn't even lifted their heads from her books. Peter squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, before blurting out, "Lily and James think Remus and Tonk snogged, but are too embarrassed to admit it, and now they're trying to figure out how to get them to admit that they love eachother." Lily and James gaped at Peter, who was bright red. He had done it again, spilled his friends' secrets. He felt like he'd betrayed his friends once again, telling his Leader – no, owner – their deepest darkest secrets. Sirius looked at Remus. "Well?" he asked. Remus, who had gone pink, shrugged. Tonks tried to stay calm, but her hair had already gone hot pink. "I asked you and you lied? You did snog?" he was blinking, before looking at James and Lily, "And you knew?" Lily sighed. "Well, we guessed. They acted panicked when you asked them at breakfast, and we put two and two together." Sirius then looked at Peter, who shrugged. Remus stood up. He was sick of this, having to listen to how James and Lily had figured out all of his secrets, how Tonks was unwillingly handing all the answers to them on a platter, how Sirius was too stupid to notice anything. He gathered and left, fully aware that Tonks was watching him leave out of the corner of her eye. Sirius turned as the door slammed shut. "He snogged my cousin… and didn't tell me… you would, right James? If it were you?" Tonks snorted, her hair turning red. "of course he wouldn't! You're too protective, Sirius, he'd probably be terrified that you'd kill him. Why can't I just like someone without you all trying to read my hair?" she stood and stormed out, just like Remus. Lily looked out. They'd got the pair of them to admit it to them, now they just needed to admit it to eachother.

Tonks went to the Whomping Willow. She didn't know why, but she always felt peaceful there, like it was a place meant for her to think. Unfortunately, it seemed that someone had already took her thinking spot. "Remus? Are you okay?" she asked, sitting beside him. He nodded, sadly. "I just hate it when they do that. They take advantage of your hair too, you know, not just that Avalanti girl. Plus, Sirius is really dumb, no offense." Tonks laughed slightly, before nodding. "Sirius is definitely dumb. It's just annoying that I'm not allowed to do anything without them knowing, and telling Sirius so he can try and stop me. I hate being a damn Metamorph." "I'm a werewolf, Tonks, I know how it feels to have problems." He smiled, "I guess we both do, right? I mean, Sirius is a pretty big problem, plus we both have our… conditions." He looked at his feet. Tonks looked into the Forbidden Forest. "You know what I really fancy?" she asked. Remus looked at her grin. "A Butterbeer. You coming?"

Hogsmead was finally snow-less, as the late February sun had melted it away. There weren't too many people around on the streets, but the Three Broomsticks was practically overflowing. Remus and Tonks sat at the bar, and Remus ordered them both Butterbeers. "I'm glad you two are okay. Frank and Alice told me what happened, dear, you're lucky he was there both times!" she smiled at the hero, Remus. Tonks nodded. "Yeah, that's me, the lucky one." Remus smiled, knowing full well that neither of them were lucky at all. They sat in the pub for a while, mostly in silence. "I thought you'd forgotten." Remus muttered. Tonks looked at him, confused. "About the kiss…" he smiled, remembering Valentine's Day. "I couldn't forget." Said Tonks, taking her final swig of the sweet drink. "I don't really fancy going back to Hogwarts, really." she said, glazing over the awkward silence. Remus looked at her. "Let's go to the Shrieking Shack. Unless there's a hotel or something here. The floor isn't as comfortable as it sounds." She lead Remus through Hogsmead, disappointed to find that she would not be sleeping in a bed. "Oh well, the Shrieking Shack floor it is then." She and Remus went into the back door of the Shrieking Shack. "This isn't a good idea." Remus said, looking at the teal haired girl. "Sirius won't be happy." Tonks shrugged, spinning in a circle on the creaky floorboards. "Oh well! Come on, let's dance." She twirled around the room, passing Remus and grabbing his arms, dragging him around with her. He laughed, before stopping, the Shack spinning. "There's no music though." Tonks stopped, swaying slightly, before bursting into the Hogwarts school song. Remus had never heard her sing before, and although she was only playing, her voice sounded beautiful. She danced around, occasionally using ballet moves. "I had to take it when I was younger. It was boring, but my mom says it looks pretty, elegant." Andromeda Tonks was right, thought Remus, ballet sure does look pretty. She swooped low, leaped high, staying in perfect time with the song that was bursting from her lungs. she grinned, finishing in an elegant bow. Remus clapped, laughing. "Wonderful, wonderful! Absolutely brilliant!" he said, using his best French accent. Tonks grabbed his hand, pulling them both around in circles. Every so often she leaped, doing the splits in mid-air. she flopped onto the old sofa in the corner, holding her head . "God, I'm dizzy." She yawned, before curling up, "Night."

Remus was right. When he and Tonks walked into the common room the following morning, Sirius stared at them angrily. Remus raked a hand through his tousled sandy hair, and Tonks was attempting to comb her own messed up hair with her nails. "You have to stop disappearing!" he yelled. There weren't many people in the common room, as most were down at breakfast. Remus sighed, not wanting to have yet another lecture about how they could both die. "You're like Professor Celeste, telling us we're going to die!" he yelled, taking Sirius completely off-guard, "I wouldn't let anything hurt Tonks, you know that! She never left my sight!" Sirius blinked at his friend, and was about to say something when Tonks cut him off. "Remus didn't sleep. I know because I didn't either. I'm a very good actress. He could've but he wouldn't, to make sure no one came in. at least he gives me room to breathe. You don't let me do anything." She turned and left the common room, leaving Sirius glaring at Remus. "I told you that if you hurt her I'd kill you, and you've been on the verge too many times. Taking her to Hogsmead without telling us? No note? We were worried!" Remus rolled his eyes. "She's old enough to look after herself, Sirius, You don't need to babysit her-" "She's thirteen! She's only thirteen, and you act like she's fifteen, taking her to Hogsmead in the dead of night. How can you expect me to watch you together when you're not even responsible!" he followed Tonks, slamming the door angrily. James looked at Remus. "We were worried, to be honest…" he said, before sighing and leaving with Lily. Peter sat silently, before standing up. "You love her, right?" He asked, Remus blinked, before nodding slowly, "Well, then fight for her. I know I've never had a Girlfriend, but I know that if I did I'd fight for her no matter what."

Sirius sat beside Tonks in the Great Hall, but she moved a seat along. He did the same, and she got up. "Don't try and be all nice to me, Sirius, you're suffocating me." she strode over to the other side of the table as Lily and James walked in. Lily sat beside Tonks. "If you guys had a go at him too, then you should know that I wanted to go to Hogsmead. I made him come, and I had the time of my life. It's way better going with him than with Sirius. He never lets me have Butterbeer. Or buy anything. Or dance in the Shrieking Shack singing at the top of my lungs." Lily knew that Tonks was trying to rub it in Sirius' face that she preferred Hogsmead when she was with Remus, and it seemed to be working. "You're thirteen, Tonks, remember that." He said. Remus and Peter entered a moment later, and sat beside Sirius. "We did have a good time, right Remus." She looked at the werewolf, who shrugged. Tonks, who felt like crying, stood up, climbing off the bench. "Fine, whatever. Seen as though to you guys all I am is a stupid little girl with a crush. Some friends you are." She stormed out of the Great Hall, her friends – old friends – staring after her. Lily got up and stared at the boys, before looking at where Tonks had left. "Boys are so god damn insensitive. She really likes you, Remus, but you and Sirius just rip her to shreds. Merlin's Beard!" she ran after Tonks, leaving the boys in silence. James shrugged. "If anyone can make Tonks feel better, it's Lily. She is a girl too, after all. But, she is kind of right, even I can see that she really likes him."

Lily found Tonks in the Gryffindor common room. She looked up. "I'm sorry, but it's what you think. I may be younger than you all, but I'm not stupid." Lily sighed, sitting beside her friend on the sofa. "I'm fully aware that you aren't, and I don't think it's some school girl crush. I can see how much you love eachother. I don't think James and Peter think it either, but Sirius. Well, we all know he isn't the sharpest tool in the box." Tonks snorted sarcastically. "Oh yeah? And what about Remus. You saw him, he'd prefer to keep quiet and not make his friend angry. You know, I actually thought he enjoyed spending time with me. I guess I was wrong." Lily stared at her friend, whose tears were silently slipping down her pink cheeks. She smiled, having an idea. "okay, so this is mainly to cheer you up, and to give me something to do, but how about we give you a makeover, show them how grown up you really are. Tonks laughed, "I don't like makeup, but yeah, go on then! I want to be the belle of the ball!" she grinned.

The two spent the next half hour getting Tonks ready. It was Saturday, so she didn't have to wear her awful Hufflepuff robes. "There! All done!" smiled Alice, who had been doing her hair. She'd come in ten minutes after they'd started, and had decided to help by doing her hair. Her bangs were now curled, and her hair was in a messy but elegant knot on her head. She had pale pink lips and golden eyeshadow, and her eyes had a cat eye and a lot of mascara. She smiled, spinning in her silver dress. It reached the floor, but still looked casual. "It looks like I'm going to a party." Tonks sighed, looking into the mirror beside Lily's bed. "It doesn't! dresses are worn all the time!" "Can't I have shorts?" she pleaded. Lily laughed, shaking her head. "No shorts, but I do have this gorgeous yellow summer dress you can borrow. it'll come just above your knees." Tonks rolled her eyes, but nodded, and changed. As she looked into the mirror for the second time, Alice and Lily beside her, she smiled. "It's perfect, thank you!" she felt like crying. Other than the Valentine's dance, she'd never been done up before, and it felt good to hang with girls for once. Lily and Alice combed their own hair, Alice plaiting hers, and did their makeup. "Come on, Tonksy, we're having a girls' day. Mission make our boyfriends and crushes jealous as hell, commencing."

The Marauders were sat in the common room, turning when a gasp filled the room. Remus barely recognized Tonks, only by her hair did it click who it was. She was grinning, hands on hips, as she, Alice and Lily sashayed down the stairs. They were wearing heels, Tonks struggling a bit, and looked a lot taller. Lily went and snogged James right there, with everyone staring, and he stood awestruck. Alice, who was less confident, kissed her boyfriend Frank on the cheek. Tonks stood, still smiling. "You look amazing." James whispered, as Lily went and stood beside her two friends. "Thank you, but unfortunately me and Tonksy here will not be spending the day with you. We'll be having fun." She looked at Tonks, who nodded and stepped towards Sirius and Remus, whose mouths were open. "Besides, you wouldn't want to be hanging around with a little girl like me, would you?" she smiled, before leaving the common room with Alice and Lily. Sirius and Remus stood for a moment, before a fourth year behind them said. "I had no idea Tonks had legs! Merlin she's so hot!" they immediately pinned him against the wall.

Lily and Tonks sat with the Marauders at lunch. Alice had to leave them, as she had a date with Frank, but Lily and Tonks were the only ones talking. The boys were just watching them. "And that really fit Ravenclaw boy, remember him?" Lily nodded, grinning, listening to her friend talk about boys, "he asked me out! I said yes! Oh Lily, what do I do? I've never been on a date before!" her hair was green, excitement, and she was giggling. "Don't worry, me and Alice will help you! Just be yourself, and if he doesn't like you it's his loss. If he's a total git, but he asks you out, don't say yes, but if he's sweet, then honey he's a keeper. I actually got asked out too, by a Slytherin! It was hilarious, but I said no. I don't really fancy being a Death Eater, plus I'm taken." Tonks nodded, before tucking a curl behind her ear. "I'm nervous. What if he doesn't like me?" Lily laughed, swallowing her steak. "If he didn't like you, he wouldn't have asked, would he? What year was he in?" "Fifth, I think." Sirius looked up, staring at her. "It was Jason Belby. He's Chaser in the Quidditch team." Sirius climbed out of his seat and stormed over to the Ravenclaw table. "No, Sirius!" but it was too late. Sirius had grabbed Belby's collar, and was looking him in the eye. "You are not taking Tonks out, are we clear?" Belby gulped, nodding slightly. Sirius released him, before turning around and seeing his cousin, who was glaring at him. Lily shook her head, and both girls left. Sirius, Remus, James and Peter followed them upstairs, storming into the Gryffindor common room, where they found Lily comforting a sobbing Tonks. She stood up angrily. "why the hell did you do that?" she snapped. Sirius rolled his eyes angrily. "He's the same age as us! If she went out with him, you know what he'd want her for!" Nobody in Gryffindor had ever seen Lily truly angry before, not even James, who she used to hate. Nobody had ever seen her yell, until now. "She was finally happy! She had found someone who wasn't going to treat her like a little girl or hate her because she was a Metamorph! She finally had a date, and as usual you went and ruined it!" Sirius blinked, completely gobsmacked at this outburst. "You just couldn't help yourself, could you? you had to act like a man, being all macho. You're pathetic! And you know something? I don't care if she's the only sane one in your family, or if Remus loves her. I am taking her to Belby right now, and apologizing on your behalf. Maybe he will take her out, but you better hope so, Black, or I will personally kill you." She grabbed Tonks' eyes and lead her out, heading towards the Great hall, where Jason would be finishing his lunch. Tonks wiped her cheeks, hoping that she didn't look too bad.

"Jason, we're so sorry about Sirius he-" Lily was about to finish, when Tonks cut her off. "My cousin is an overprotective, suffocating jerk, and I apologize. I was wondering if you still wanted that drink in the Three Broomsticks?" Belby stared at her, before she sighed. "he won't hurt you, okay? He's full of bull, but he wouldn't actually hurt anyone." Belby smiled, nodding. "Yeah, okay, sure. Just as long as he won't kill me. You know, Tonks, you really are gorgeous. I'll see you at one on the sixth, yeah?" He turned back to his friends, and Lily nodded at the green haired girl. "Shall we go then?" Tonks grinned, hugely grateful that he understood, and that he was still taking her. They went back to the Gryffindor tower, where the Marauders were sat in silence. James stood up when the girls entered, and kissed Lily on the cheek. "What did he say? I talked with Sirius told him he was out of line. He's not too happy though." "He said yes, lucky for Black, but I'm not talking to him, and I don't think Tonks is either. Remus doesn't look happy either, what did he say." "He was with Sirius, obviously, even though he's a total hypocrite." Lily nodded, and smiled as she watched her teal haired friend tell Alice the big news. They both squealed happily, and presumably talked about ideas for hairstyles.

Remus lay awake, and he knew that Sirius was too. he could hear James and Peters' snores. Of course they could sleep, it wasn't the day that they would have to watch the girl they loved be taken to Hogsmead by some pervert. "I hate this." Sirius muttered, so that he wouldn't wake the other two. "I know. I can't stand seeing her look so happy with someone other than us." Tonks had spent more time with Belby, and he seemed to really like her. "yeah, plus we don't have dates. I suppose hanging with Peter isn't bad, though, he's a bit quiet, that's all." Remus smiled. He was trying to be happy for Tonks, he really was, but seeing her with Jason was killing him, more than it had with any other crush he'd had, like the one on Mary Macdonald in second year. He lay awake for another hour at least, before eventually he managed to drop off to sleep.

Tonks' eyes flicked open, and she immediately remembered her date with Jason Belby. Alice and Lily spent an hour on Tonks' makeup, giving her a red lip and smoky eye. "I look like I'm going to a nightclub." Said Tonks disapprovingly, peering into the mirror. Lily sighed. "That's in right now. Let's straighten her hair, it'll look great." She was holding up a white mini dress, and Alice nodded, grabbing her straighteners. After they finished on Tonks, Alice did her own makeup, giving herself a nude lip and bronze eyes. She looked gorgeous in a dark cropped top and jeans. "I don't have the legs to pull off a dress." She smiled, after Tonks had called her out. Lily had gone for the same makeup as Tonks, but she was wearing a red jumper and black mini skirt. "Ready?" The Marauders were waiting in the common room, Sirius and Remus glaring at Belby, who was also there. "Wow, Tonks, you look… wow." He laughed uneasily, and his cheeks were red. He held out his arm, and she took it, smiling. Alice and Frank looked adorable, casual but cute, and James looked nothing compared to Lily. As always, Remus was blown away by how beautiful the thirteen year old was, and Sirius was still angry that she was going on a date. James looked at his watch. "Come on, they'll be leaving soon." They left the common room together, Tonks, Lily, Alice and their dates in front. Remus and Sirius were sulking behind, Peter glancing anxiously at them both. "I hate him so much, but I'm more scared of Lily." Muttered Sirius. Remus nodded as they walked out into the courtyard. McGonagall was stood in front of a crowd of third, fourth, fifth and sixth years, looking as stern as usual. "Morning, girls, those skirts are a bit short aren't they?" Tonks blushed, and Belby grinned. "Yes, Professor, they are." He said, winking at Tonks, who giggled. Remus turned to Sirius. "He's flirting with her!" his blood was boiling, and Sirius nodded angrily. "I have an idea. I took James' Invisibility Cloak. Mission spy on date is commencing."

Hogsmead was busier than ever, with Hogwarts students everywhere. The first place Tonks and Jason (And Sirius and Remus) went was Honeydukes. "She hates honey!" gasped Remus as he lifted a spoon to her mouth. She gagged as he put it in her mouth, and he laughed as she swallowed. "Ugh! It's so sweet!" she laughed. Belby nodded, taking her hand. "Just like you then." Tonks giggled and blushed as he lead her out of the shop, taking her out of town towards the Shrieking Shack. They stopped at the barbed wire surrounding it. "We're not supposed to come out here." Belby grinned. "I know, I just reckoned you wanted a break from all the others. I'm just glad we didn't see your cousin. No offense, but him and Remus are bonkers, they've been glaring at me all morning!" Tonks laughed, but stopped when Belby pulled her closer, putting a hand on her hip. She looked up at him as her stroked her cheek. "You really are beautiful, you know." He leaned down and kissed her. She raked her hands through his hair and kissed him back. Remus closed his eyes. he couldn't watch this. He left the cloak and stormed through the trees. Sirius looked back at Jason and Tonks, who were full on snogging now, and followed Remus. "Remus, I don't like it any more than you do, she is my cousin after all!" but Remus wasn't listening. He was going to find Peter, and then they were going home. Tonks could snog whoever she flipping wanted, but he wasn't going to stand and watch. "James and Lily can make their own way home, who knows maybe they'll meet up with them?" he snapped angrily, pulling Peter back to where McGonagall and Filch were waiting.

Tonks wiped her mouth. "wow." Breathed Belby, eyes wide. Tonks grinned. "That was amazing." He smiled at her, sitting on one of the posts. Tonks nodded, sitting beside him. he spun a strand of her hair round his finger, before saying, "Will you go out with me? Be my Girlfriend?" Tonks looked up and pressed her lips against his again. "Yes!" she smiled.

The trip ended quicker than Tonks, Jason, James and Lily wanted. "Where's Sirius, Peter and Remus?" asked Lily. Tonks shrugged, looking at Jason, who smiled at her. "I haven't seen em', I mostly saw Tonks' eyes." he grinned, putting his arm around her. Lily smiled, her mind switching to how happy her friend looked. Tonks nodded, "They probably left early, got bored. I bet they're in the common room. Or the Library, you know what Remus is like." Jason laughed, pulling Tonks closer and leaning down to kiss her cheek. Lily nodded and they went up to Gryffindor tower, Tonks and Jason laughing behind the other two. Lily looked at James. "They've sure never heard of 'Taking it Slow' have they?" Lily grinned. She saw that he wasn't smiling. James shrugged. "What if they were right, Lils? Sirius and Remus. What if he does want more from her. She is only thirteen." Lily's brow furrowed. "You're fine with her dating Remus, and he's the exact same age as Jason." James shrugged, doubtful. "Yeah, but we know him. They've been on one date and they're worse than us." Lily shoved James' arm off her shoulder. "So you're saying that because he isn't your best friend you don't trust him? Why is it that all you Marauders want to do is make Tonks miserable?" She stormed on, getting to Gryffindor tower before the others. Sure enough, Remus, Sirius and Peter were sulking on the red sofa. "Careful, I think Jason wants to do more to her." She sneered, storming straight into the girls' dorm. James entered a moment later, raking a hand through his hair. "She's mad at me, but she'll get over it. Just a quick warning, you might vomit." He went up the opposite staircase, and the three boys heard the door shut. Tonks and Jason came in a second later, and Sirius and Remus immediately started glaring at Jason, who still had his arm around Tonks. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw?" she asked, looking at Jason. He shrugged, and they left, Tonks saying something about how she'd prefer to go to Ravenclaw, as Hufflepuff house hated her.

Tonks didn't sit with the Marauders the following two weeks, instead she sat with Jason and his Ravenclaw friends. "And then I turned the goblet into a rat, and it fell on Sirius' face and he was yelling so loud!" Tonks grinned, making the people around her laugh. Jason kissed the top of her head, smiling. "you're a little Minx aren't you?" he laughed. Tonks winked at him, her grin widening broadly. "You know it!" she laughed. Hannah Lowwe smiled at her. "We're going to be brilliant friends, I can see it! By the way, this is my boyfriend, Karl Brown. He's Beater for the team. I'm Seeker." She held out her hand, and Tonks took it, smiling. "Yeah, you were the one that knocked Sirius off, weren't you?" she asked Karl, who nodded. She smiled again. "That was funny as hell!" she laughed, glancing towards the Gryffindor table. Remus, James and Sirius were glaring in her direction. "One moment, I believe my cousin wants a word." She stood and went over to the Gryffindor table. "What? Why are you staring at me?" she snapped. Sirius looked at her, and imitated her hands on her hips. "Well, Mrs. Snappy Pants, you aren't sitting with us. You always sit with us." Remus looked up at her and nodded. Tonks leaned forwards slightly. "I'm just sitting with my boyfriend today. Chill." She smiled, taking great pleasure out of seeing her cousin so moody. She loved rubbing it in his face that he was the only single Black now. She never even saw Remus staring into his plate. Lily looked at her, smiling. "You up for a makeover later? Me and Alice have something really cool planned for you. Both you and Jason are going to love it. These guys, not so much, but who cares, huh? Girls gotta flaunt it, right?" Tonks nodded and grinned. "Yeah sure, I'll be there after I finish."

Lily was definitely right. Tonks looked into the mirror. She had makeup similar to what she had worn to Hogsmead, and her hair was curled. She was wearing a rather revealing mini dress, and she admired her curves. "I had no idea I had these!" she smiled, pointing at her chest. Lily smiled, glancing at Alice. "Are we off out then?" Lily nodded, pulling put two more dresses. "I've persuaded the boys to take us to Hogsmead tonight, to the Three Broomsticks. Jason and Frank are coming too. Wait here while we get ready." After all three girls were done up, all wearing very complimentary dresses and dark makeup, they left for the common room. "I feel too common, Madame," grinned Jason, snogging Tonks. She smiled shaking her head. "You look hot." She grinned, pulling him in again. James couldn't get over how revealing his girlfriend's dress was, but Frank was immensely pleased, showering Alice with compliments. They went through the Shrieking Shack, Jason and Tonks holding hands and walking off in front. "I think they're so cute together." Smiled Alice, who had her arm linked with Franks'. He nodded. "I guess so, but I mean, you got her dressed up a bit, didn't you? she's only thirteen." Lily sighed, rolling her eyes. "Why does every boy in Gryffindor treat her like a baby? She likes him, you can see that, besides, she's always so miserable, she deserves to feel wanted. You lot just overload her with protectiveness." She said. Alice nodded, agreeing completely with what Lily was saying. "Plus I haven't seen them leave eachother, so if the Slytherins attack her, he'll kill them. he likes her a lot." Remus cleared his throat, reminding them all that he still liked Tonks, and that he really didn't want to have to see them kissing. Alice rolled her eyes. "It's your own fault. That could've been you, if you'd just admitted that you like her." Remus sighed, following the lovey dovey couple ahead of them. Tonight was going to be a long night…


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N this chapter's a little shorter than the last two, but all the chapters I'm uploading today were prewritten. Hope you enjoy!**

Chapter 4

Tonks watched as the bottle span around and around. Jason had ordered a bottle of Firewhiskey, so that they could play a game called Spin the Bottle, a Muggle game that Lily had taught them to play. Around and around… the bottle stopped in front of Tonks, and she gulped as Lily span the bottle again. Oh god. Remus flushed red as the bottle landed on him. Tonks' hair turned pink. You had to be joking! "I have a boyfriend." She muttered. There was no way she was kissing Remus, not here. Alice grinned, slightly drunk. "I had to snog James, and we're both taken. It was awful too, I don't know why you like him, Lils. Go on, it's just a game." Sirius looked from his cousin and his best friend, then smirked. "come on, I want a go!" he said. Jason laughed, patting Tonks' shoulder. "it's almost midnight!" he said, smiling. Tonks looked at him, and he shrugged, "It's just a game." He said. Tonks and Remus leant across the bottle and snogged. Just like their last kiss, it was amazing for both parties, but they parted after a second. Lily glanced at James as she spun for the next round. Sirius gagged after having to kiss Lily, making everyone laugh. Tonks' cheeks were pink as her kiss with Remus spun through her mind. You still love him, she thought, you can't ignore it.

Tonks sat on Lily's bed, twirling her hair around her index finger. She felt awful for breaking up with Jason, but he'd agreed to staying friends, and didn't seem to bothered. Alice watched her daydreaming, thinking hard. Why had she done it? "do you still like Remus?" the thought had slipped from her mouth, and Tonks shrugged. "I don't know anymore, Alice. it was awesome being with Jason, but then that kiss with Remus reminded me of Valentine's day, and I felt it again, like I'd die for him." Alice smiled, knowing that feeling all too well. "It definitely sounds to me like you love him." she said. Tonks shrugged again, as Lily entered the room. "Remus didn't go to the Infirmary last night, and he's not back!" she yelled.

Nymphadora Tonks was, in fact, very much in love with Remus Lupin, thought Alice, as Tonks bolted out of the room as soon as Lily had said anything at all. She didn't stop running until she got to the Whomping Willow, and Lily watched out of the window as she slid into the tree's hollow trunk. "She'll kill you, you know. What did you even do?" Alice asked, seeing Lily's smirk. "I knocked Remus out, so she'll think he's hurt and finally tells him that she loves him, so he can finally ask her out, and they can live together forever!" she laughed, sitting one her bead. Alice shook her head, smiling "You're evil, and no doubt James was in on it too?" Lily nodded, before closing her eyes and imagining Tonks, crying her eyes out at Remus' side.

Tonks gently touched the bloody lump on his forehead, the red liquid leaking onto her hand. "Remus!" she breathed, a tear rolling down her cheek. She leaned over him, and suddenly he began to stir. "Remus!" she yelled, throwing her arms around his neck. He gasped in surprise as she did so, before seeing that her knees were cut. "Did I hurt you?" he held her at arm's length, checking her face. She gave him a teary smile, before hugging him. "No, no, Lily said you never went back last night. I was so worried about you I ran all the way hear. I tripped on the stairs and cut my knees. Thank God you're alright!" a fresh set of tears sprang into her eyes, but this time with joy and relief that Remus was okay. She cried into his shoulder for a while, and he stroked her hair absent-mindedly. She leant back and looked him in the eye. "I broke up with Jason last night." She said, her mascara smudged. Remus' brow furrowed, confused. "What? Why? I thought you liked him?" Tonks smiled. "Not as much as I like you." and they kissed… again.

They got back to Gryffindor common room after an hour, once most of the pain had subsided from Remus' head. Alice gasped when she saw him. "you did that?" she asked Lily, who nodded. "The lamp is a wonderful weapon, and it looked like it worked." She pointed to Tonks, who was blushing and staring at Remus beside her. Sirius ran over and hugged her. "Lily told us you went with Remus last night, we thought you'd go to Hogsmead again so we didn't follow. How was it? did you have a good moon?" Lily looked at Alice, and the two girls stood and left as quickly as they could. Tonks looked at Sirius, confused. "I went because Lily told me Remus was hurt, and he was. Hey, you don't think she played us, do you?" Remus laughed, putting his head beside Tonks' and whispering into her ear, "I think she was playing Matchmaker again." He smiled. Tonks nodded, and looked up at the werewolf. "Well, at least this time it worked" she giggled. Sirius was talking to James, and Peter was playing himself at Wizard Chess. "Should we tell them? Sirius won't be happy if we do." Tonks nodded in agreement. "Definitely not. It'll be our secret."

April fool's Day had dawned, meaning that the Marauders had to do something big. They always pulled a huge prank on everyone in the Great Hall, and everyone expected it except the Defence Against the Dark Arts professor and any first years who refused to follow older students' advice. Despite the fact that everyone was expecting something, they all sat down and began eating anyway. It wasn't until people started leaving that the fun started. "I can't get up!" yelled one Ravenclaw first year. "They've glued the seats!" yelled a Slytherin sixth year. The Marauders had put their napkins on their seats, and could get up no problem. The usual message appeared behind the Teacher's table, and they turned to read it.

Happy April Fool's Day!

Brought to you by…

The Marauders!

On the bright side, you don't need to sit down every hour!

Good luck walking around!

Everyone, barring the ones who set the enchantments, had to walk around bent over, seats attached to their bums. Sirius found enjoyment in tripping up Severus Snape, and laughing as he struggled to stand up. "Let's play Trip a Slytherin!" he joked, sending Goyle to the floor. The only one they took pity on was Regulus, only tripping him once. Remus and Tonks kept smiling at eachother. Dating in secret was so much more fun! As they sat in the Library that Dinner time, Remus squeezed Nymphadora's hand under the table, waking her from her daydream. She smiled at him, before going back to her Divination homework. Lily looked at them both suspiciously. They'd been acting especially strange for the past week, and she wanted to know why. "So, Sirius, who are you taking to Hogsmead? It's in three days." Sirius shrugged, shoving a chocolate frog into his mouth, trying not to get caught. "Marlene McKinnon. I felt bad because I didn't take her to the Valentine's dance." Lily nodded, before turning to Tonks. "What about you?" she flushed red, and her grip on Remus' hand tightened. "well I guess I'll be hanging with Remus and Peter, won't i? after all, I broke up with Jason." Remus half smiled. She's mine now, he thought happily. Lily tapped Peter's leg with her foot under the table, and she raised her eyebrows at him. "Actually I don't want to go, I don't have a date. Why don't you go as friends? Like you went to the Valentine's dance as friends?" he repeated what Lily had told him to say exactly, and she smiled. Tonks' heart fluttered in happiness. "Alright then, if that's alright with you, Remus." He nodded. Yes! They could go on a date, for once, and just pretend like they were just going as friends. Sirius frowned. "You're sure you aren't going, Peter?" he asked. He did not want Remus and Tonks on another 'just as friends' thing. Last time Nymphadora had nearly died and they had snogged. "Well why don't me and Marlene hang with you two? I mean, if you're just going as friends it won't matter, right?" he smiled. Tonks and Remus' hearts dropped like a bomb, and they both shrugged. His plan had worked. Now he could not only enjoy his date, but keep an eye on them as well. His best friend was not dating his cousin, and that was that.

Like in March, Alice, Lily and Tonks were getting ready for Hogsmead. Marlene, who was also in Gryffindor, sat on her own in the corner, brushing her hair. She was watching Alice do Tonks' hair, when she turned around. "I'm sorry Sirius ruined your date, Tonks." Alice stopped brushing, almost dropping her comb. Marlene never apologized, ever. "It's fine. It was just as friends anyway." Alice put her hair in two plaits, leaving her bangs loose as usual. The three girls went for the subtle makeup again, nude lip and golden eyes. Alice dressed in a denim knee length dress ad black strappy heels, Lily in a red mini dress and black wedges and Tonks in a periwinkle cropped top and jeans, along with nude wedges. They went down the stairs together, aweing everyone as usual. Tonks was now considered a Gryffindor, even by the Professors. The only thing she did with Hufflepuff was lessons, meaning that they were definitely the three prettiest Gryffindor girls. Remus wanted nothing more than to kiss Tonks, but he couldn't, not with everyone here, and it looked like he wouldn't get chance, as Sirius and Marlene, who he admitted looked better than usual, would be there, hanging over their shoulders. He took her arm, before whispering into her hair, "You look great." He quickly kissed the top of her head, before heading off with the others.

Hogsmead was, in Tonks' opinion, better in daylight. At night, everything was closed, whereas during the day they could scour the shops. Remus had bought Tonks many things, as she had left her money at Hogwarts, and as they sat in the Three Broomsticks, she looked at it all. "Thank you, Remus, this really is so amazing!" she grinned, holding a sugar quill in her hands. He smiled, shrugging. Marlene and Sirius were beside Tonks, kissing. They both had their eyes closed, and didn't even notice when Tonks and Remus slipped out of the busy pub. Remus grabbed Tonks' hand, pulling her towards the Shrieking Shack. For a moment, Tonks thought they were going to stop at the barbed wire, but Remus ducked underneath it, remembering that she had been there with Jason just a month previous. They went in through the back door, as always, and went upstairs, where Remus went once a month. Tonks opened the shutters, seeing that Lily and James were at the barbed wire. Tonks almost yelled to them, but she realised that they would come over and realise what was going on between her and Remus. She shut them quickly, and turned to find that Remus was right behind her. She jumped, not realising that when she turned around she'd be almost nose to nose with Remus. He pressed her against the wall and kissed her, his hands on the bottom of her back. They broke apart when they heard the back door open. "has someone come in?" whispered Tonks. Remus stopped, listening carefully, before shaking his head and pressing his lips against Tonks' once more. "What the hell?" they jumped apart to see Sirius, Lily, James and Marlene in the doorway. Tonks' hair turned an alarming shade of pink, and Remus' face burned red. Lily was smirking beside James, who's eyes were wide. Sirius pinned Remus against the wall, his face red with anger. "My cousin? You git!" I was about to punch Remus, right there, in the face, when Tonks flung herself between them. "Stop it, Sirius! Stop it! it's my fault, leave him alone! It was just kissing, okay? Just kissing!" Sirius looked at his cousin, who was stood in front of Remus, protecting him. "it didn't look like just kissing! It looked like he was ready to strip you!" Tonks' face went red, and she spluttered, "no, he was most definitely not!" Sirius stared at her angrily. "how long?" he said. Tonks' brow furrowed, but she sighed and, eventually, gave in to his stares. "a month, roughly. We didn't tell you because, well, we knew you'd do this."

The Boys' dorm was silent that night, when they had returned from Hogsmead. After Tonks and Remus' secret was revealed, they'd walked back to McGonagall and Filch, waiting with some of the other students. Peter looked at James, who was sat beside him. "What happened out there?" he asked. James half smiled. "well we walked in on Remus and Tonks snogging, and it was all hell, then we came back here. Lily is going on with the whole 'I told you so' act, and Marlene's already told most of Gryffindor, the cow. I feel sorry for all three of them. Remus and Tonks aren't speaking to Sirius, and he's having to hear it everywhere he goes. Plus there's rumours, obviously, and because they lied to him he doesn't know what to believe and Remus is thinking that he doesn't deserve her and Tonks is feeling torn between the one she loves and her family, and she's completely confused, and-" Sirius cleared his throat, reminding him that he was in the room, and glaring at Remus, who was reading, trying to take his mind off the fact that everyone was talking about him right this moment, even his friends who were in the very same room. He decided to switch his thoughts to Tonks. How her smile made everyone laugh, how good she was at kissing… and eventually, he finally dropped into sleep.

"Is Remus a good kisser?" Marlene asked, staring up at the ceiling. Tonks laughed, looking up at her bunk. "What sort of question is that?" she paused for a moment, before saying, "He's a very, very good kisser." She grinned as Alice and Lily giggled. Alice, after collecting herself, put her hands on her hips. "I'll have you know that Frank Longbottom is an exceptional kisser." This sent the girls into fits of laughter again, and Lily decided it was her turn. "James is great at kissing, but he always tries to feel me up, and I don't like it. I don't like telling him though, I just ignore it. The kissing's great though, like a said. So, Marley, what about Sirius?" Tonks snorted, laughing into her hot chocolate. "I don't want to hear about how good a kisser my cousin is! That's gross!" Marlene, ignoring her, sat up and looked at the girls. "He's amazing, really violent. I like it when it feels like they're going to tear your face off." Tonks gagged, making the girls laugh even harder. Lily leant against the bed, before saying, "I knew that you and Remus would get together. Why didn't you tell me?" "I knew that you'd tell James, and then he'd tell Sirius, and then… well, you saw what happened in the Shrieking Shack." She shrugged, and Lily grinned. "Well, it looked like you were enjoying yourselves. He seemed to rather like your back." Alice's eyes widened, and Lily explained in great detail their positioning. "Wow, that sounds so romantic!" she smiled dreamily, "Sirius said that Remus looked ready to 'strip me'. Merlin, he's so dramatic." Lily shrugged, looking to the floor slightly. "It did look a bit like that…" she muttered. Alice and Marlene burst out laughing at the look on Tonks' face, and she and Lily joined in after a moment. Tonks grabbed Lily's pillow and threw it at her, causing an immense pillow fight.

Remus wasn't hungry the following morning. Instead he found that watching Tonks eat was rather enjoyable. Sirius rolled his eyes, in a particularily bad mood. "Stop staring at her, Remus, you look pathetic." Remus sighed and looked down at his empty plate. Lily rested her head on her hand, before saying, "So, Remus, how did you sleep?" "Great, thanks. Well, apart from when Sirius tried to drop a book on my face." He glared at the boy with tousled black hair, and Tonks looked at Remus. "Well he always did use cowardly revenge." The Marauders fell silent again, before Remus stood up. "I'm going to the Library. Coming, Tonks?" the teal haired girl nodded, and the couple left. Lily followed them a moment later, and James followed her. "You get why I'm so mad, right Pete?" The small boy looked up, before standing and following after his friends, leaving Sirius on his own. He laid down his fork, thinking to himself. Was he being over dramatic? Should he let them date? He didn't think he'd be able to see them snogging twenty-four-seven, but he supposed…

Lily was incredibly surprised to find that Remus and Tonks weren't in the Library. She was still searching when Sirius joined them half an hour later. "Where are they? I wanted to tell them that-" Lily looked at him, panicked. "I don't know, they weren't in the Library, and we've searched everywhere!" Sirius' look changed to determination, and he ran into the boys' room. "They're at Hogsmead, they went through the Whomping Willow!" he yelled, running out, followed by the other Marauders.

Tonks placed her hand on Remus' back as he kissed her neck, pressing her once again to the wall of the Shrieking Shack. She breathed in his familiar smell of mint and ink. God, she loved that smell. He brought his lips back to hers, taking her completely by surprise. "Remus Lupin why are you such a good kisser?" she asked, her forehead against his. He laughed, breathless, before saying, "Nymphadora Tonks why do I fall in love with you more and more every time I see you?" he went to kiss her again, but was interrupted by a loud slamming noise. Tonks' eyes widened, and she ran and hid behind the old couch. Remus followed her, smiling slightly at her childish behaviour. "I guess they went out." They heard Sirius pant, "I'm going to kill him dead!" then they heard the downstairs door slam, and Remus turned to look at Tonks. "They're going to slaughter me, you know, stealing you like this." Tonks laughed, kissing Remus' cheek. "You know something? I love being stolen." She leant in again, kissing Remus. He smiled, deciding that maybe he could live with the punishment that he was going to endure, as long as it meant a few more minutes with this young teal haired woman who had completely turned his life upside down.

Sirius banged his head on a table in the Three Broomsticks. "What's wrong, dears?" asked Augusta, handing the four miserable teens their drinks. James sighed "Our friends have gone missing. We can't find them anywhere in the castle, and we thought they were here, but they're not." He said. Augusta smiled. "them two lovebirds, eh? Well, I bet they're off kissing somewhere. You should give 'em some space, you know? couples tend to like some time alone." She winked and went back behind the bar. That was most definitely not what Sirius wanted to hear. "Off kissing somewhere? Space? Time alone? I tell you, if he's touched her I'll-" Lily sighed angrily, sick of hearing it all the time. "I don't see what your problem is. Augusta's right, give them some space. We all know you suffocate the poor girl. And I doubt Remus would be so stupid. She's thirteen for God's sake! Besides, you wouldn't give one if it was anyone else, it's only because it's Tonks that you even care that he's disappeared." James looked at his girlfriend. She was right, he knew she was, but he had to show his friend support, right? He did understand why Sirius was so worried, but he was always threatening anyone who even took an interest in Tonks. "Maybe you should, you know, give them space. I say we go back to the castle and wait for them." he said. Sirius gaped at him. "How can you act so casual? Remus is off doing Merlin knows what with Tonks, and you propose we wait for them? Are you completely off it?" he asked. James sighed. "this is going too far, Sirius. Just back off a bit, then maybe Tonks will decide to actually trust you enough to tell you where she is, without being in fear that you're going to strangle someone. Come on, Lily, let's go back." He grabbed Lily's hand and led her out of the pub, shortly followed by Peter. Fine, if they want space they'll get it, thought Sirius, as soon as I'm dead.

James and Lily opened the door to the Shrieking Shack, and they heard a gasp. Lily and James looked at eachother, before rushing upstairs. Sure enough, Remus and Tonks were sat across from eachother, lipstick smeared across Remus' face. "You're kidding me?" asked James. He began laughing. Tonks, Remus and Lily looked at him like he'd gone completely crazy. "Sorry, Sorry, it's just, we came in earlier, and you weren't here, and now you are. It's like we've been running in circles this whole time! Where were you?" Tonks and Remus looked at each other guiltily, before grinning. "We hid behind the sofa when you came in, and then we were scared that Sirius was going to yell so we didn't come out." Laughed Tonks. Lily stared at them, feeling… anger? Why did she feel like yelling at them for being so stupid? Suddenly, they all herd the door open again, and Remus' face dropped. "Oh no!" gasped Tonks. She started walking on her hands and knees towards the sofa, when James shook his head. She stopped. "Sirius! Up here!" they heard heavy footsteps, before Sirius appeared at the top. "What do you want- What the hell?" he looked at his cousin, whose top had slightly undone, and Remus, whose face was covered in red smears. He stared, open mouthed, at the couple, who looked at him, terrified. Stay calm, Sirius, calm. "Hi, good to know you're safe!" he said, his voice high. He smiled forcefully, before looking at James and Lily. "Shouldn't we be going? Give them some space like you said?" he left, leaving the room in shock. James shrugged and pulled Lily and Peter out of the room. Peter waved to the pair over his head. "That was weird." said Remus, standing up. Tonks nodded, also standing. She looked at Remus. "Well, you heard him." she grinned. He shrugged and gently kissed her.

Tonks opened her eyes, and realised that she was in the Shrieking Shack. She was fully clothed, thankfully, though a few more buttons on her school shirt had undone. She couldn't remember much from the night before, but she could see a few empty bottles in the corner. She got up off the floor and went to investigate. Firewhiskey. That explained her headache. She looked back at Remus Lupin, who was shirtless, and smiled. She'd never noticed before how good his abs were. He opened his eyes, feeling hair on his bare chest, and immediately thought the worst. He had a headache, which meant he'd been drunk. Oh god, what had he done? He sat up quickly, making Tonks jump and lift her head. "What? Is Sirius here?" she said. Remus breathed out. Good, at least they hadn't… good. "Do you remember anything from last night?" he asked, massaging his temples. Tonks watched as he pressed into the wrong place. "Here, sit here." she said, sitting on the sofa. He sat on the floor between her legs and she started massaging his temples in the right places. "The last thing I remember is going to Hogsmead and buying a few bottles of Firewhiskey. Oh, and Sirius didn't kill you. He might now, though. You weren't meant to get me drunk." She smiled, playing with Remus' short hair. "I'll protect you, Rem, don't worry." She said.

They got to Gryffindor common room at Lunchtime, after exploring Hogsmead. They went into the Great Hall and sat with Lily, James, Peter and Sirius. "Skipping class are we?" asked Lily. She seemed a bit on edge, anxiously glancing at Sirius. He looked up. "Did you have a good time? Brought back some Honey lollies, I hope." He was acting like nothing had happened. James looked at him. What was he trying to achieve? Then it dawned on him. He'd told Sirius that if he backed off Tonks would trust him more, and this was exactly what Sirius thought 'Backing off' was. Remus sat down cautiously. Tonks, however, took advantage of Sirius' new calm state. She kissed Remus every chance she got, even sometimes wrapping a leg around his. He didn't crack though, which surprised the Marauders greatly. "Im sort of liking it though, at least we don't have to walk on eggshells." Remus grinned one afternoon, as he, James and Peter sat in their dorm. James smiled. "yeah, I bet you're enjoying all the lip action too. is she a good kisser then? Tonks, I mean." Remus' grin widened. "oh, yeah, most definitely! She's amazing at it, for a thirteen-year-old. I really like her, James." He lay back on his bed dreamily. He really was enjoying this new freedom.

It took a month for Sirius to finally crack. It had gone too far, and he was not standing by and letting Remus play with the waistband of Tonks' skirt. "God, stop it! I'm sick of having to watch you two go at it every single damn day!" Tonks looked at Remus, and they both smiled. "So how long's it been?" asked Remus, pretending to count on his fingers. Tonks' grin widened broadly. "A month a six days. It's June, he did well." She linked her arm through Sirius'. "I knew that would make him crack. It just isn't the same without you yelling at us all the time. Don't get me wrong, I loved it, but it just wasn't as fun as having to run off and hide just to get a decent snog!" Sirius glared at his cousin. "there it is! That good old, 'I'm the Boss' glare! I missed that!" she smiled.

Tonks rushed to Gryffindor tower after her final class, potions. She couldn't wait to hear their results. She gave the Singing Lady the password, before hurrying in. she looked around, before turning to a third year. "Where are they?" she asked. They girl smiled and shrugged. "No idea. They've not come back yet-" at that moment, the painting swung open again, and Remus ran in, picking her up and spinning her in circles. "I passed! And Lily passed and Sirius passed and James passed and Peter passed! He laughed, pulling her into a kiss. She broke away after what seemed like forever, and grinned. "I'm so pleased for you! how many Os did you get?" "seven." He grinned. She smiled and pulled him in again, much to Sirius' distress. He cleared his throat, and Tonks flicked her hand in dismissal. He sighed, going up to the dorm.

Remus held out his wand, his and Tonks' trunks levitating in front of them. he shrunk them both slightly to fit them on the bag rail with the others', and they sat beside Peter. Sirius grinned. "So, Remus, does your house have a big garden?" he rubbed his hands together in delight as Remus nodded. "My mum says that she's getting my room ready." Tonks looked at Remus, confused. "How does she do that? It can't be that hard to find covers and stuff." Remus chuckled, kissing her forehead. "Maybe, but it isn't easy to turn a floor into a mattress." Tonks' eyes widened. Remus' mum always did this whenever they stayed for the summer, but Tonks had always gone home. This year, however, Andromeda and Ted Tonks had given her permission to stay at Remus' house, as long as Sirius was there. Sirius grinned at his cousin. "I hope there are some decent shops, I still haven't got your present yet!" Tonks' birthday was the 20th of August, so she would be spending it with her best friends. She rolled her eyes. "I don't like presents, you guys don't have to get me anything." Remus sighed playfully, "Well I already got it, so I guess I'll have to keep it for myself." He turned away, feigning sadness, and Tonks pulled his face round, kissing him softly. "I'll take it, don't worry!" she smiled.

Remus' house was rather small, but Tonks did live in a half-mansion house in the centre of London. It felt cosy once she'd stepped inside. There was a large brown velvet sofa, with an orange juice stain on it, and lots of photos and ornaments on the mantelpiece and walls. Mrs Lupin swept into the room, wearing a long white dress. "You must be Nymphadora Tonks, oh but you prefer Tonks, yes? Remus doesn't half go on about you in his letters!" her son turned pink as she shook Tonks' hand. "You can call me Hope, dear. Oh my apologies for the state of the house. It's probably not what you're used to!" Remus glared at his mother from behind Tonks, who simply smiled. "No, It's gorgeous. I love it. we don't have any photos anywhere. I don't have any photos of when I was a baby, not that I'd want any." Hope Lupin seemed to really like Tonks, leading her into the kitchen for a coffee. "I never got that." Muttered Sirius, following after them. Remus smiled, glad that his mother liked the nutty teal haired girl that he'd brought home.

Tonks gasped when she stepped into Remus' bedroom. It was true – the floor actually was a mattress. Tonks looked at some of the posters on his wall. "Why aren't you on the Quidditch team then?" she asked, looking at the picture of the Irish team. He shrugged. "They said that the other teams would say the have an advantage because I'm a werewolf." He said disappointedly. James swung his arm around his friends' shoulders. "Little do they know their Captains' an Animagus!" he laughed, leaping onto the mattress floor. Lily sat down, bouncing slightly, beside Sirius, who was looking through a photo album. "Merlin's Beard, is that you?" said Tonks, gasping at the baby picture she was looking at over Sirius' shoulder. Remus burned red, nodding. "You're so cute!" Nymphadora smiled, watching as he put it back on the shelf above her head. "Thank you, Nympha- Tonks." He stuttered on his name, making the Marauders stare at him. "You almost called her Nymphadora." Whispered Peter, who was leaning against the doorway. Remus turned even redder. "Sorry, Tonks, I'm just used to calling you that here." she blinked. Did he really talk about her that much that he forgot she was there in his house? She smiled, slightly, taking it as a compliment. "I don't mind too much, it's just that I don't like the name." She shrugged, sitting down on the navy blue mattress floor. Remus looked at her. "I don't know why, it's a beautiful name." Tonks looked up at him, crossing her legs. Sirius rolled his eyes, laying down. Lily looked out of the window, and saw that it was completely pitch black. She lay beside James, who was already asleep. "Night guys." She said, curling up. Tonks shrugged and lay down, edging away from her cousin. She closed her eyes, her mind running through reasons of why someone would possibly think her name was beautiful.

"Can't sleep?" Hope leaned against the doorway, making Tonks jump. she looked at the mug of coffee in her hands. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have helped myself. Sorry." Hope smiled at the girls' panic. "It's fine, love. I often come down here when I can't sleep. For some reason, the Lupin men snore really loud!" she laughed. Tonks' face turned slightly pink, and Hope smiled. "Sorry, you're thirteen aren't you? Sirius' cousin? Remus really seems to like you. I'm glad he chose someone sweet like you, he deserves happiness. He had a rough life, he needs a bit of TLC from someone who isn't his parents! I'm loving your hair, by the way. You're a Metamorph, aren't you? my best friend was a Metamorph, I met him through Lyall, but he died in a car crash. I know he suffered lots of hassle because of it. do you?" Tonks nodded, staring into her cup. "Yeah. Ignore 'em, sweetie." She heard a snore from upstairs. "Sometimes I wonder whose it is, Lyall or Remus'." She smiled, sitting beside Tonks and looking out of the ceiling to floor window. "My pride and joy, they are. Wouldn't know what to do if something happened to them." Tonks nodded, thinking of the times she'd cried because she'd thought that Remus was dead.

The summer went by in a blur of sunshine and spending time in the city centre. Tonks seemed much calmer than usual, and most people just thought that she had dyed hair. She opened her eyes on her birthday, smiling. She sat up and dressed as quickly as possible, before rushing downstairs. Remus was the only other person awake, and he turned when she went into the kitchen. "Happy Birthday." He said, kissing her. They snogged for forever, before breaking apart. "So what did you get me?" she smiled. Remus grabbed her hand. "It's upstairs," he said, grabbing both hands and pulling her after him up the stairs. Tonks looked at the five people laid asleep on the mattress floor. She sat down, and Remus went to fetch a small box. "Oh Remus, it's beautiful!" Tonks gushed, admiring the gorgeous silver necklace. She picked up the pendant, which was a heart locket. She ran her finger over the delicate pattern. "But Remus this must have cost a fortune!" Remus grinned, blushing. "Admittedly, my parents chipped in a bit. They seem to really like you, especially mum. You know, now that I think about it, you remind me of her a bit." Tonks snorted, making Sirius almost wake up. "Thanks. I like your parents. They're much more… parent like… than what I'm used to." Remus smiled as Tonks pulled him into a passionate kiss. "Do you two ever stop?" grumbled James, sitting up and shaking his head in astonishment at the couple. Tonks shrugged. "I was just thanking Remus for my present, and asking if him would mind helping me put it on." Remus took the necklace out of the box as Tonks pulled up her bubblegum pink hair. He fastened it carefully, before turning her head and kissing her again. James groggily made a vomiting noise before shuffling off to the bathroom. Sirius was the next to wake, and it took him a full hour before he finally noticed the beautiful necklace that his cousin kept holding. "Where'd you get that? It looks expensive." He mumbled, still half asleep. Tonks grinned and pointed to Remus, who smiled. "It was, but I don't mind, it's beautiful, just like it's owner!" Tonks laughed at this comment, and he shrugged. "I never was good at flirting." He blushed. Tonks grabbed his hand, her fingers entwining with his. "I think you are." She whispered into his hair. Sirius gagged sarcastically, and Tonks rolled her eyes.

Hope Lupin smiled as the seven teens entered the kitchen. "Ah, Remus, love. You gave it to her then?" Remus nodded, and Hope continued, "It was mine before I gave it away to a pawn shop. Been in the window for a good three or four years. Remus, where on Earth did you get the money?" Remus blushed slightly, before murmuring, "A few people owed me a couple of favours, okay?" Hope knew the tense tone in voice meant to stay quiet, so she simply shrugged and sat down at the table. Lily and James glanced at eachother, suspiciously, before sitting down. "I'm doing pancakes, in celebration. How many does everyone want?" Hope asked, sipping her coffee. "As many as you will give me!" Tonks laughed.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N this chapter is so damn short compared to the others! I'm sorry! Hope you enjoy it anyways.**

Chapter 5

The train ride back to Hogwarts went by rather quickly, With several games of exploding snap and Sirius and James clearing the sweets cart of its contents countless times. Alice and Frank joined them just before the train reached its destination, and the pair of them were talking about how they couldn't wait for the first Hogsmead trip in October. "Frank's Mum said that, if you guys wanted to come, she's holding a bit of a party at the Three Broomsticks." Frank nodded, "I think it's to take people's mind off the war. Everyone's so scared the You Know Who's coming after them." Peter shifted uncomfortably, "Yeah, did you hear about that second year? Her entire family got killed." Tonks gasped, and Remus pulled her closer to him. "Yeah, bet you can't guess who it was?" Sirius snapped, causing the others to stare at him. "My dearest Mother sent me a letter, saying how I should be more like Bellatrix. 'She doesn't disappoint our family, does she? She even carried out a murder in the name of our Leader.' Gimme a break. I mean, of course, only my family could want everyone dead. If you ask me, that Volder-dude is nuts. I mean, who the hell would even want to join him?" Peter was starting to feel extremely uncomfortable now, and murmured something about needing air as he left. "What's up with him?" James asked, watching him walk through the train. "You said You-Know-Who's name, Sirius. He's probably been taught that it's bad luck." Said Tonks, resting her head on Remus' shoulder. The rest of the compartment shrugged in agreement and the rest of the train ride was taken in silence, everyone lost in their thoughts.

"Miss Tonks? Yes, I'm afraid that you are no longer allowed to sleep in the Gryffindor Common Room. Many students have been complaining that it's not fair, so we must stop it." Tonks tried to protest to what Professor McGonagall was telling her, but the stern woman was having none of it. "I will not have you speak this way to me! Detention, tomorrow night after dinner, don't be late." She glanced over to where James and Sirius were tripping up the new first years, "And tell them to join you." she sighed and strode away, leaving Tonks frustrated. "What am I going to do now, Remus? You know as well as I do that I'm not gonna survive there." She said desperately. Remus nodded and shrugged, "But what can we do?"

It had been ages since Tonks had slept at the Whomping Willow, but now what choice did she have? The minute she'd stepped foot in the fourth years girls' dorm, they had laughed and told her not to bother. She sighed and tried to get comfy, finding a strange comfort in staring once again into the darkness of the forest. "Thought I might find you here." Tonks turned to see Lily, who was leaning against the trunk. Tonks shrugged. "It's better than in a room with girls who are likely to murder me in my sleep." Lily laughed slightly, sitting beside her. "I can't believe that they've stopped you from sleeping in our room. Surely they know that you get bullied by the others?" "Some students complained that it wasn't fair I could basically switch houses and they couldn't." Lily sighed and shook her head. "I get why you sleep here though. The forest is rather quite calming." "I know. I mean, Sirius will probably still go on about the fact that there are monsters in there that could kill me, but I mean, they're really not that different from Remus and I. Just… very misunderstood." Lily nodded. "Sirius still hates it that Remus and I date, doesn't he?" Lily sighed, "Being honest, Tonks, I don't really think he'll ever get over it." they sat in silence for a while, before both eventually fell asleep.

"Sirius! Sirius! Wake up!" Sirius groggily opened his eyes to find that James' face was inches away from his. He screamed and leapt backward, almost covering his bare chest like a woman would. "James what the bloody hell, don't do that!" He looked around to see that Remus was pacing around the room, biting his nails, and Peter was sitting anxiously on the end of James bed, looking at James worriedly. "What's going on?" Sirius asked, slightly scared now. James looked like he was going mental. "It's Tonks and Lily! They've gone missing! We went down to the common room and Alice was there and she said that Lily wasn't in her bed and that she thought that maybe she'd gone to see Tonks but we went over to Hufflepuff and they're not there either! Sirius I'm losing my mind what if something's happened to her? I can't lose her! What if Voldy-whatsit's taken them? What if they're dead?" Remus grabbed James and shook him. "Stop thinking like that James!" He snapped, "You aren't helping!" Suddenly they heard laughter. Their heads snapped around to see Sirius, sat laughing. "What the hell, Sirius? Why are you laughing they might be dead!" James yelled. Sirius shook his head and mocked wiping a tear away. "You two clearly do not know your girlfriends very well." He shrugged casually. "What are you on about?" Remus snapped. "They'll be at the Whomping Willow. That's where Tonks always sleeps when she isn't allowed in Lily's room. I'm betting that Lily went to keep her company last night." He said, before laying back down and closing his eyes, dropping almost immediately back to sleep. Remus and James looked at eachother for a second, before both bolting to the door.

Tonks and Lily were both woken immediately by their boyfriends, who picked them up and showered them with a mixture of kisses and comments about how they shouldn't worry them like that. Lily laughed, demanding that James put her down. "Don't turn into Sirius, please!" Tonks laughed, as Remus placed her on her feet. He smiled. "I'm sorry, I was just worried." He said quietly. She smiled and pulled him into a kiss. "Lily J. Evans never ever worry me like that again!" He pulled her close, kissing her forehead. "I thought I'd lost you." He whispered. "Hey! Are you idiots coming back up to the castle? Breakfast's out, and Alice is going almost as crazy as James!" They all turned to see Sirius and Peter, both of them waving them back to the castle. "Let's go, I'm starving!" Tonks laughed, pulling Remus along as she ran to join her cousin.

Tonks slept at the Whomping Willow every night for the following week, sometimes joined by Remus, Sirius or Lily and other times just on her own, staring into the forest and thinking about how different it had been the year previous. She smiled as a squirrel leaped past her onto the tree, narrowly missing getting whacked by one of the tree's branches. "I hope that your life's as fabulous as mine, little squirrel." Smiled Tonks, placing her head on one of the roots. "Tonight, my boyfriend's gonna come through this tree, and he's gonna think I'm asleep, but he doesn't know that I'm going to follow him. It's been so fun all the other times, and I'm so excited! Oh- this is him!"

"Really, Mr Lupin, you must persuade her to sleep where she's meant to!" Madame Pomphrey sighed, seeing the girl asleep under the tree. She waved her wand to pause the tree's movement whilst he got himself safely inside the tunnel. "With all due respect, Madame, I really don't think there's any point in trying to. She's a free spirit, she'll do what she wants." He stared adoringly down at the sleeping girl, and Madame Pomphrey shrugged. "Well then, off you pop. I hope that it's not too harsh. I'll see you in the morrow, love." She patted Remus on the shoulder as he flung himself into the tunnel. Tonks waited until she could no longer hear Madame Pomphrey's footsteps before lifting her head. The healer was almost at the castle, and so Tonks deemed it safe to move.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N so for those who don't like the set up of this story, again I prewrote it and, being completely honest, didn't want to have to go through hours of work putting spaces in when this is how I write. Sorry if you don't like it, just try to cope and when I update knew chapters (Chapter nine onwards) it'll be better, promise. Hope you can enjoy it anyway!**

Chapter 6

She was at the trapdoor now, and pulling herself up, she cheerfully called out. "Remus! Remus! I've come to keep you company!" She closed the trapdoor and, wondering why he hadn't replied, walked over to the stairs. "Remus?" She took a step. "Remus are you there?" she could hear the growls as she reached the top of the stairs, and screamed as she was shoved against one of the walls. She came face-to-face with the creature, it's golden eyes staring straight into hers. "Remus… what are you doing?" She asked, trying to squirm out of his strong grasp. Nothing, just growls. Tears welled in her eyes as the wolf continued to pin her to the wall. Suddenly and violently, she was pushed to the floor, his claws slicing her arm. She pressed her hand to the wound, before looking at the blood on her hand. "R-Remus…?" She whispered, terrified, to the wolf, who was stood in the corner of the room. It lunged at her, trying to bite her but only succeeding to snag her clothes and scratch her. She screamed in pain as the claws cut her, unable to escape. Yelling out for help, she realised that nobody could hear her. She stopped screaming and just sobbed as the beast attacked her, by now she was covered in blood and in immense pain. Just as the wolf was about to bite there was a loud crack and it howled in pain. Tonks continued to sob as Remus made his transition. She loved him, so much, but even he couldn't distract her from the pain she was in. She winced as he went to touch her, and leapt backwards. Tears filled his eyes as he saw how scared she was. What had he done? Her nightclothes were mostly in tatters and she was covered in scratches and blood, including a rather nasty gash on her left jawline. "Tonks… I'm sorry… I'm so so sorry…" He lowered his head, sobbing. She watched him, still scared, shaking with fear, before holding out a hand and cupping his head. She slid onto her knees and pulled his face an inch away from her. He just kept repeatedly apologizing, shuddering with the sobs. "I-It's okay… R-Remus?" He had stopped crying and looked up at her with what seemed like anger. "Get out…" He snapped. Tonks blinked, confused. "W-What?-" "Get out!" he bellowed, pointing to the stairs. She stumbled out of the room, and when he heard the trapdoor slam shut, he broke down on the wooden floor of the Shrieking Shack.4

Tonks pulled herself out of the trunk of the Whomping Willow, shaking with fear and pain. She just about managed to get to her feet, before bolting towards the castle, falling over countless times. She got to the Gryffindor Portrait a mess of blood, tears and dirt, sobbing violently. The Singing Lady didn't even question her, letting her in immediately. She dragged herself up to the girls' dorm, bursting through the door. "Lily! Alice!" She wailed, making the four girls jump up. Lily gasped, leaping out of bed and catching Tonks as she fell to the floor. "What the hell happened?" Alice yelled, kneeling beside the two and staring in shock at Tonks' state. "I-I tried to g-go with him…" She sobbed. Lily tried to pull her to feet. "Tonks we have to go to the Infirmary! Look at the state of you!" "No! R-Remus'll get in trouble!" Alice sighed and helped Lily, Marlene running over to help. "I couldn't care less about Remus right now," Alice snapped, pulling Tonks' arm over her shoulder. "I'll go and get the Marauders!" Marlene said hurriedly, trying to get past. "No! Sirius will kill me, please don't!" Tonks wailed, and Marlene looked at Lily. Seeing that this would make her friend worse, Lily shook her head. "Come on, Tonksy, you need patching up." The three girls dragged Tonks all the way down to the infirmary, thankfully not being seen. Miss Pomphrey gasped as they burst into the infirmary. "What in Merlin's name happened?" She yelled, immediately, beckoning them to lay her on a nearby bed. "She followed Remus, Miss," She looked the teacher dead in the eye, tears in her eyes. "It was a very bad moon." She said quietly.

"She's been checked over, it's just a few scratches." Pomphrey said, stepping into the hallway. Marlene had been told by Madame Pomphrey to go a fetch Sirius, James and Peter, and Alice was to get Dumbledore. Lily peeked in the door as Pomphrey went back in, and she could see that he was giving the sobbing Tonks aa talking-to. "I told him to be careful" Sirius was yelling, pacing the candle-lit hallway "I told him not to hurt her!" James stood up and patted his best friend on the shoulder. "It wasn't his fault, mate, clearly the wolf took over-" "He is the wolf, James! He could've killed her!" Lily nodded quietly. "we know, Sirius, but it's no good doing anything rash… we need to calm down." James sat down and put an arm around her. "Sirius, I think you should go back to the common room and get some sleep, we all know you don't make good decisions when you're tired." Lily said sternly. He shook his head. "I can't leave her, no way!" Lily stood up and held Sirius at arm's length. "Sirius Orion Black you get upstairs and into bed right this moment!" She ordered, "You aren't helping Tonks in anyway doing this, so you might as well go and get some sleep." James and Peter's mouths dropped open as Sirius sighed and made his way towards Gryffindor. Lily turned to them and sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Go with him and make sure he doesn't wander off. I'll stay with Tonks." She watched as they ran to catch up with Sirius before quietly opening the door. "Miss Evans I thought I told you and the others to wait outside!" snapped Pomphrey, who was rushing to take water to where Tonks was laid. "Please, Professor, I got Sirius and the others to go back to bed, thought it might help. I want to become a Healer, and although I know I'm not the best I can help." Madame Pomphrey sighed, and reluctantly nodded. "Here, help me clean off the blood and dirt." The woman said, holding out a sponge and the bowl of water. Lily nodded and set to work, gently wiping away at her friend's injuries. "Will Remus… you know, get expelled?" Pomphrey shook her head. "I highly doubt it, love, seen as though, in his werewolf form Mr Lupin doesn't exactly have the best control. Besides, the daft girl should have known not to follow him, but I know she meant well, the poor thing."

Remus opened his eyes and sat up. The sun was sneaking through the boarded-up windows, so Remus knew it was day. Maybe it had all been dream! Just a horrible, horrible dream. That's when he saw it. the patches of blood and scraps of clothing dotted around the room. Tears formed in his eyes, and, knowing that he'd have to face them at some point, he made his way through the tunnel.

"Sirius, would you just eat?" James snapped, seeing that his friend's plate was completely untouched. "Lily isn't back yet." He said quietly. James sighed. "she probably slept down in the infirmary, she'll be here soon." Sirius shook his head. "What if she's dead, James?" "Sirius, stop, mate, you're working yourself up. Pomphrey said that Tonks is going to fine, there's nothing to worry about. Just eat something, please." Sirius sighed and picked up his fork, stabbing it angrily in a sausage. It almost got into his mouth when Lily entered the Great Hall. He dropped the fork and ran to her, James and Peter hot on his heels. "is she okay? Can we go see her?" Lily nodded, "She'll be okay, we cleaned her up and it turns out that the only serious wound was the one on her face. It'll scar but she'll be able to morph out of it." Sirius nodded. "Can I go see her?" Lily nodded, but stopped him as he tried to run out. "don't give her a lecture on how stupid she was. I already did." Sirius nodded and left, running as fast as he could towards his cousin.

The minute Sirius got to the infirmary he ran over to Tonks and pulled her into a hug. She winced, and he pulled away. "I'm sorry!" he said, slightly alarmed. She shrugged, "It's fine, I've been through worse." She laughed uneasily. Sirius sat on the end of her bed. "Has he come back yet…?" she whispered. Sirius shook his head, "If he has, then we didn't hear about it. when I find out where he is I'm going to kill him." Tonks shook her head and sat up, wincing again. "Don't, please, it's not his fault, it's mine. I'm too stupid, I shouldn't have followed him." Sirius sighed. "I can't promise you, Tonks. Hey, Pomphrey, think you can get me out of lessons for the day so I can stay with Tonksy here? Keep her company?" He winked at the nurse, who laughed. "Nice try, Sirius." She smirked, going to help a first year who had clearly been hexed at the breakfast table. "Please? I promise you won't even know I'm here!" "Sirius. I said No."

The library was silent, with only a few seventh years on their free period, laughing and studying. Remus had hidden himself in one of the corners, ensuring that nobody would see him and question why he was out of class. He had his free period next anyway, a time in which he could be seen by anybody and not be questioned for it. The bell rang, and he sighed, slowly closing his book, before standing and stretching. He'd managed to avoid the Marauders for the whole morning, and he prayed he wouldn't come across them in the common room later that night. His plan was to arrive back extremely late and wake extremely early. He was about to move to the seat by the window when he heard two very familiar voices. He sat back down, and, much to his displeasure, the pair of them decided to sit on the other side of the bookshelf. "Have you been to see Tonks yet?" Remus heard Peter ask, and a short snort followed. "Sirius won't let anyone except himself and Lily see her. Says that it's no good having tons of people crowding round her, that she's traumatized enough." Remus' eyes widened slightly. "Traumatized?" "Oh, Pete, you know what Sirius is like, he's a drama queen! He does kind of have a point though, I suppose." "Well, getting… you know… attacked by a werewolf…" he whispered, but Remus' heightened senses meant it sounded clear as day, "It has to be… scary." James hummed in agreement before sighing. "You seen Remus today?" "Nope. Lily said he might not remember what happened, that maybe he's just gone to Hogsmead or something. It's a good job though. You know what Sirius is like." "He'd have gone even more bonkers if it weren't for Tonks being a Metamorph. I suppose she's lucky really, that she can cover the scar." Remus gulped. He'd really done that much damage? He blinked back tears before creeping out of the library, making sure that nobody could see him.

Tonks could tell that he was here, again. "Sirius, bog off, I don't want anything!" she sapped, not opening her eyes. he hadn't stopped pestering her ever since she had got here, and it was starting to get on her nerves. "I-It's not Sirius." Tonks' eyes flashed open to see Remus stand over her bed. She sat up and pushed her back against the wall, flashbacks of what had happened flicking through her mind. Remus eyes filled with fear. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." He looked at her, and knew that this was it. it was over. She was afraid, just like everyone else. He looked at the blood-stained bandage taped to her cheek. He looked at her arms, which she'd wrapped around herself. And felt like crying. she was covered in scratches, some deeper than others, all of them either scabbing or bleeding. "T-Tonks. I-" he was cut off as a hand wrapped firmly around his wrist, and Lily dragged him out of the infirmary.

Lily let go of Remus once they had reached Sirius outside. "So, I see you decided to turn up." Sirius snapped, crossing his arms. Remus stayed silent, turning his eyes to the floor. Lily sighed and turned to glare at Sirius, "Before you start off on one," she turned back to the boy in front of her, "Where the hell have you been all day? We thought something had happened to you!" Sirius grumbled something behind her which she didn't quite catch, but she knew it would have been something offensive. "Shut it, Black," She snapped. Remus sighed. "I was in the library." He mumbled, not making eye contact with the red-haired witch in front of him. Lily looked at him for a second, confused. "But James and Peter were in there a while ago and they said you weren't in there." Remus couldn't help but chuckle. "You think this is a time to laugh?" Yelled Sirius, taking a few strides towards the werewolf, Remus looked up for the first time in a short while and stared at him. "Of course not! It was just ironic that-" "I don't give a crap, Remus! My innocent little cousin could have died and it was your fault!" Lily unexpectedly turned and slapped Sirius, much to both boys' surprise. "Don't you dare, Black! You know full well that it wasn't his fault!" I turned back to face her, ignoring the stinging in his now red cheek. "He knows what she's like, Evans. He knows she follows him!" "I thought she was sleeping… Even Madame Pomphrey did…" Remus said quietly, looking back to the floor. Sirius shook his head. "I don't care! You should have checked!" He turned to where James and Peter had just turned the corner. James eyes widened. "Lils, did you slap him?" he asked, shocked. Lily nodded, "Yes, because he's being completely unreasonable." She said, her tone stone cold. Sirius laughed sarcastically. "Unreasonable? This just proves what I said all along!" he snapped, glaring at Remus, who winced as the words he knew would come left his friends' mouth. "He's too dangerous to be around her." "Come on, mate, you're just angry, you know he didn't do it on purpose." Sirius shook his head, his eyes filling with tears of anger. "I don't care, James. She could've died at his hands, and to me that's unforgivable." He stormed past James and Peter, towards the Gryffindor common room. Not wanting his friends to see him cry, Remus fled towards the Whomping Willow.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N Merlin's Pants, this chapter is soooo short, I'm sorry! Hope you like it.**

Chapter 7

James glanced at Lily before starting in Remus' direction. She held her arm out, stopping him, and shook her head. "You go make sure Sirius calms down. I'll handle Remus." James nodded. Peter stood awkwardly as both of them left, before sighing. Why did this keep happening? He felt a sting in his arm and knew that his Owner wanted him, so I headed in the same direction as Lily, though the pair of them had two very different destinations. He could see Lily almost half way to the tree as he left the school's doors, and he made sure that as he skirted around the edge of the cobble walls nobody could see him. after checking this, he ran for the forest, his head swinging from side to side to make sure not a single person caught. He reached the edge of the forest and sat on a fallen trunk, catching his breath. "Pettigrew!" he heard a harsh whisper behind him, and he turned, knowing the voice of his friend's insane cousin. "The Dark Lord wishes your presence immediately. I've been sent to show you the new base of operations. Come on, then!" She grabbed his arm and pulled him over the log, causing him to trip and almost fall. He trailed behind her hopelessly and she turned around. "Merlin, could you walk any slower!" she snapped. Peter sighed. "I just ran down here from the castle; My legs feel like they're going to fall off!" She pulled out her wand and held it his neck. "Talk back to me again and I'll make them do just that!" He gulped. Bellatrix had always scared him, ever since he'd joined the Death Eaters last year, and he nodded, knowing that she wouldn't be afraid to kill him if she wanted to.

"You know it's weird," Lily said quietly, leaning against the tree above Remus and staring into the shadowy woods. "This is her thinking spot." Remus didn't look up at her; he just continued to look into the forest, silent tears rolling down his face. "Thank you," he said simply, after a short period of silence, "For standing up for me." Lily shrugged. "Well he was wrong. We all know you didn't mean to hurt her." Remus looked into his lap. "He's right though. I am too dangerous…" Lily shook her head. "No, Remus, you're not. Sirius is just angry." Remus sighed, and the pair fell into a few more minutes of silence. "I could have killed her, you and I both know that." He said. Lily sighed, "But you didn't Remus, and she'll forgive you-" "You didn't see the look in her eyes," He cut her off, "She was terrified of me…" Lily sat down and patted his shoulder sadly, knowing that no matter what she said it wasn't going to bring him out of his current state. "Please come back up to the castle, James and Peter will be worried." Remus laughed sarcastically, sounding much like Sirius had a while before. "Sirius won't be though. He probably hopes that I get attacked, like she did…" he trailed off, and Lily sighed. "You know his face is really hard. That seriously hurt my hand." She flexed her hand, chuckling, trying to lighten his dark mood. It wasn't working. "You should go back up to the castle." He said quietly, "Tonks needs you more than I do." Lily sighed and stood up, giving him one last pat on the shoulder. "Are you going to be alright?" She asked. He nodded and looked up at her, giving her a half-hearted smile before she turned and headed back to the castle.

Peter looked up at the dark lord nervously. He was facing the other way, just like always, so that he couldn't see his face. Bellatrix was stood on one side, a hand on her hip and twirling her wand around her fingers, and Lucius was on the other, his arms crossed across his chest and a face like he'd just sucked a lemon. "So, the Metamorph had a little accident?" The man asked. Peter had never seen his face, but he imagined that he was pale, with dark hair. He'd tried to picture him in his mind countless times, but had always been interrupted by a question like this. "H-How did you know that?" He squeaked, much to Bellatrix's amusement. "The Dark Lord knows all, Rat. Just answer his question!" a hand appeared from the black leather chair. It was gloved, and he made a motion for Bellatrix to silence herself. "Now, Now, Bellatrix. No need to snap at the poor boy, now, is there?" He said, his tone too nice to be true. "Y-Yes, M-My Lord… Tonks was attacked b-by Remus." "Serves her right, the little half-blood brat." Bella scoffed. Peter winced, knowing that if he was ever found out as a Half-Blood he would probably be killed. "S-Sirius isn't happy, he, um, told Remus th-that he was too dangerous for T-Tonks." Peter stuttered, ignoring Bella's tut at Sirius' name. "Ah, I see," The Dark Lord chuckled, before stopping abruptly, much to Peter's surprise. "Keep it that way."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N so this is the last pre-written chapter! Hope you like what I had so far.**

Chapter 8

Peter had left, heading back to the castle. Lucius turned to the dark lord, his face still gloomy. "My Lord, why does it matter to our advances what a couple of stupid teenagers do?" "Malfoy, I would shut your mouth, they may be blood traitors, but they are still family-" Bellatrix' interruption was cut off, "Are you becoming soft, Bellatrix?" The woman shook her head quickly and sent a glare in Lucius' direction. "My apologies, My Lord. I am just unhappy with him talking ill of my family." The Dark Lord chuckled, much to the siblings-in-law's surprise. "They may just be two teenagers, however they are both incredibly powerful, and would both be of great value to us. After all, your niece could camouflage easily, and the werewolf has already beaten a couple of our Death Eaters already." Bellatrix rolled her eyes, before grumbling under her breath, "Well they're hardly the best wizards on the planet." "Bella," The Dark Lord said in a warning tone, "I believe that, if Peter does succeed, one or even both of them will decide to join our army, in their miserableness, as Peter did." he smirked to himself; "Ah, young love… what a powerful thing it is."

Tonks lay staring at the ceiling, trying to ignore Lily as she rambled on about how 'boys are totally stupid and ridiculously unreasonable' and 'sometimes I wish I'd never gotten myself involved with these Marauders'. Tonks sighed loudly, trying to put her point across that the last thing she wanted to hear about was the problems in everyone else's lives. "Right,, sorry, Tonks." Lily apologized, sitting up straighter and clearing her throat. She held her hands in her lap before slouching back down in a very expressive way and snapping, "Why can't Pomphrey just heal you the magic way so you can get out of this place? You're schoolwork is going to suffer devastatingly if you spend much more time in here!" Tonks rolled her eyes, "Well I hardly choose to be put here, Lils." Lily sighed and nodded, "Yes, I know, I'm sorry. I just don't get why you have to be healed the Muggle way when it's much faster to just do it with magic." Tonks hummed in agreement before looking up at her friend. "You can always go up to bed, you know. you don't have to stay down here with me." Lily shook her head, smirking, "Oh no, you aren't getting away with that, Sirius has tried it too many times. I know that you'll just sit here feeling sorry for yourself and getting all depressed, and that's no good. I'm staying right here, Missy." Tonks nodded begrudgingly, before turning over and closing her eyes. "Fine, but you might as well grab a bed and get some sleep, because I don't care how much you talk about my idiotic brother and his friends, I am going to sleep." Lily glanced back to Tonks before taking her advice. She looked up for a second before quietly saying, "One of them is your boyfriend, Tonks." There was no reply, and Lily knew that she was being ignored. After a few seconds, came a very sad and feeble reply – "Is he?" and Lily sighed, closing her eyes and drifting off into an uneasy sleep.

It was around midnight when Remus returned to the boys' dorm, sure that the three of them would be asleep by now. He silently changed into his nightclothes and climbed into bed, using the blanket to wipe away his tears. "Why didn't you come back straight away?" Peter's quiet whisper came from the dark, not only surprising Remus but sending chills down his spine. "I knew that Sirius would be mad… I didn't want to make it worse…" Silence. Then an inhale of breath and he replied, even quieter than before, and slower, as if he didn't really want to say it but knew someone had to. "She needed you…" Remus gulped. He knew this would happen. That someone was going to point out how much of a coward he was for not running after Tonks, not helping her when she needed him both. "I did the damage, Peter… I-I didn't want to make it worse…" His voice cracked as a tear escaped his eye. "Are you going to go and see her in the Hospital wing?" Came the reply. Remus shook his head, even though he knew Peter couldn't see him. "I already did… she was terrified of me…" There was a silence, before Remus said, just like he had to Lily, "Sirius was right, I am too dangerous." When Peter didn't reply, he knew that he was right.

Tonks woke up before Lily, she was glad of, because looking at the clock on the wall it was about time breakfast was being served, and the disgusting porridge served in the Hospital Wing would not suffice at all. She got out of bed as quietly as possible, knowing that if Lily caught her she would be in a whole other level of trouble, worse than with any of the teachers (McGonagall was possibly an exception) She got out of the doors without getting caught, and couldn't help but punch the air in her success. She just about ran to the Great Hall, knowing that if she wasn't quick someone in the Hospital Wing would notice she was missing, or a teacher in the Great Hall would realise that she wasn't meant to be out of bed. The Marauders, much to Tonks' demise, were already down there, Remus staring into the plate, Sirius glaring at him from across the table, and James and Peter quietly talking to one another beside them. She tried to get to Hufflepuff table before any of them noticed, but it wasn't five minutes before she felt a very firm tap on the shoulder. "What the hell are you doing here?" Sirius seethed, keeping as quiet as possible as to not get her caught but also trying to sound intimidating. "I'm hungry, Sirius, and this is where people tend to come to eat." Was her reply. He rolled his eyes before grabbing her wrist, making her wince. She expected him to take her out of the Great Hall, but, much to her surprise and happiness, he led her to the Gryffindor table. "My sneaky little cousin managed to escape both Lily and Pomphrey, much to my surprise. Here," He motioned for James to move up, which he did, and Tonks took the seat beside Sirius, glancing nervously at Remus before deciding that if she acted like he wasn't there maybe it would make it less awkward. She licked her lips, immediately grabbing a fork and stabbing one of the sausages. Peter glanced up. His mission was to keep Tonks and Remus separate, so that's what he was going to do. "How come Pomphrey doesn't heal you with magic?" He asked innocently. Remus winced, he noticed, and Tonks rolled her eyes. "Tell me about it," she said, sighing, "apparently it's better to 'heal the Muggle way' which Pomphrey should know is bad for me." Peter cocked his head quizzically, "Why's that?" Tonks smiled – it was fake, but she knew that her fake smile could fool anyone, even Sirius. "I keep picking the scabs. Lily keeps telling me it's going to scar but I mean I can just morph them out, so it doesn't really matter. I just find some sort of great satisfaction in picking at it." Remus winced again when she mentioned scars, and Peter knew that, although he was hurting his friend, the Dark Lord was more of a threat. "Well at least you got something out of it!" he laughed. Remus stood and mumbled something about going to the library, leaving the others feeling rather awkward, the exact opposite of what Tonks had been hoping. "Sorry…" Peter said quietly as the wolf ran out of the hall.

Remus opened the hospital wing and, much to his surprise, bumped into Lily. "She's gone! We can't find her anywhere!" Remus sighed, "She's in the Great Hall. I reckoned you didn't know and thought I'd just come and make you aware. Pomphrey appeared from behind on of the curtains, wearing an old pink nightie and shaking her head. "Those Black's will be the death of me, I tell you! Would the pair of you mind going and dragging her back here for me? And Lily, dear, I trust you'll give her a stern talking- to on the way back?" Remus tried to interrupt and say what a bad idea that would be, but Lily had already agreed and pulled him out there. "You have to face her at some point, Remus, there's no point in pretending it never happened because it did." she had him by the wrist; he couldn't get away. "I'm not pretending it didn't happen, I'm fully aware that it did, I just wish it hadn't." Lily rolled her eyes and nodded, "Well we all wish that, but there's nothing we can do know except try to move on." Remus shook his head. "She's scared of me, Lily, and I know what it's like to be afraid of werewolves, there's no coming back from it. besides, Sirius won't ever forgive me after this, he already made it pretty clear what he thought of me." "Do you love her?" She said suddenly, spinning around and holding him by the shoulders. "Y-Yes…" He said quietly. "Then for Merlin's sake don't let an idiot like Sirius ruin it!" She continued to walk, still holding his arm. "but she said that.. that the scratches might s-scar… and trust me, scars aren't good, Lily!" She rolled her eyes again. "well obviously not! Fine, whatever, pretend that you don't love her any more. But trust me when I say that pretending not to love someone is one of the worst decisions you can make, and I'm super lucky that it ended well for me, and I found someone else," she said, thinking of her old friend, who she now never spoke to. they reached the Great Hall, and Lily sped up.

"Nymphadora Tonks you get your ass back to the Hospital Wing right this damn second, you hear?" everyone in the hall turned to watch as Lily stormed into the room, dragging a rather embarrassed Remus behind her. Tonks' head shot up from her bacon, and she squeezed her eyes shut as the pair got closer. "You snitched on her?" Sirius yelled, glaring directly at Remus. James shook his head. "That's pretty low, mate." Sirius shook his head. "I wouldn't even call that low! Decided to just rub it in that she's stuck in the hospital, eh?" James looked back to Sirius. "I doubt that, he probably just knew that Lily was lying-" "Whose side are you even on?" Sirius snapped back, "You're meant to be my best friend!" James stood up as well. "Oh so we're taking sides now?" McGonagall was already standing by now, as other than the Marauders the hall had fallen silent. "Sirius, it's not safe to have Tonks out of the Infirmary, especially not with her opening her wounds every five minutes, one could get infected!" "Oh give me a break, Evans! Are you all just trying to coop her up?" "Says the one who won't even let her have her own life!" Lily retorted. "Both of you just calm down-" "Shut it, James!" Both Lily and Sirius yelled at once. Remus stood silently beside Lily as she argued with Sirius, and Tonks just bit her nails, still sat beside where Sirius was stood. "All of you, be quiet!" McGonagall bellowed as she reached them, "What in the devil's name is going on?" They all started talking at once, Lily and Sirius shouting, James trying to stay as calm as possible and Peter rambling nervously. "You know what?" The professor snapped, "You can all argue in detention! And Miss Evans, take Nymphadora back to the infirmary IMMEDIATELY." Lily looked like she'd been stabbed. "Detention?" She said quietly, looking like she was about to cry. She sent a look towards Sirius that would make the devil's skin crawl. "Tonks, you better come with me right now or I swear I might throw a hex at your cousin." Tonks meekly stood, not looking at any of the Marauders as she passed them.

Detention came sooner than Tonks thought, and she was extremely annoyed. "So I'm allowed out of the Hospital Wing for a detention but not food? If you ask me, that's stupid." She fumed as she and Lily made their way to McGonagall's office. Lily nodded. "I can't believe I'm in detention! I have a completely clean record! I want nothing more than to strangle Black! No offense…" She said, realising who she was talking to. "Oh don't worry I could happily strangle all of them. except you and Peter, of course." Lily nodded as they reached the door. "you do realise that Remus is going to be in there." Lily said quietly, in case they could be heard. Tonks nodded, ever so slightly. "Are you afraid of him, Tonks?" she asked, her voice almost a whisper. Tonks exhaled slowly. "No… just the beast he becomes…" She ignored the worried look Lily was staring at her with, and knocked on the door, before letting them both in. McGonagall was waiting at her desk, with the Marauders in front of her. "Miss Evans, Miss Tonks, glad you could join us. Please, sit down, and I will explain what's going to happen here." Tonks sat down beside Sirius, and Lily beside James. "I am going to leave this room for the night, and lock you all in here. I hope that by morning you have sorted whatever that was in the Great Hall." She stood to leave, before Sirius leaned forward. "But, Minnie, isn't it against the rules to lock students in rooms over night?" Professor McGonagall sighed. "Not according to the rulebook. And don't call me 'Minnie, Mr Black. It is highly inappropriate. Now, have fun." She was out of the room before anyone could say anything else, and they heard the click in the lock almost as soon as she'd shut the door. Lily was the first to stand up, putting her hands to her head. "Oh merlin, a whole night locked in the same room as the Marauders. I am going to go insane." She looked to Tonks desperately. "well this is it, Tonksy, this is where we die." She said dramatically, pacing around the room. "Come on, Lils, it's not that bad." James tried to reason with her. She shook her head, before turning to Peter, "Can't you like turn into a rat and get us all out of here?" Peter shook his head.

Sitting on the edge of his chair, Peter watched as Sirius stood up. "well Minnie said to finish the argument from earlier, so I think that's exactly what we should do!" he snapped. James looked up at his friend. "I don't think that's what she meant, mate." Sirius rolled his eyes. "I don't care! This is about more than just Tonks having breakfast, and you know it, so just say what you clearly want to say!" his voice was getting louder and louder by the minute, and Tonks wouldn't be surprised if McGonagall had to come back and tell them to quieten down. "Fine! I think you're being completely unreasonable! We all know that when Remus can't control his actions when he becomes a werewolf and I think that the fact that Tonks is your only family member you like makes you forget that! She followed him to the Shrieking Shack knowing full well that he's a danger during the full moon!" Sirius laughed sarcastically. "So you don't even care that she's hurt? Because of him?" he pointed at Remus, who was staring into his lap. "Of course I care! I was the one she came to wasn't I?" "That's completely unfair, Evans! The only reason she came to you first was because she couldn't get into our dorm! I was down at the Hospital Wing as soon as I heard!" "Are you sure about that? Or maybe she just didn't go to you because she was scared you were going to act like this!" "Well at least we both went to the Hospital Wing! He didn't even bother!" "I did, actually," Remus cut in quietly, much to the others' surprise. Nobody had even noticed that, by this time, Tonks had moved to the corner, where she was currently sat with her knees to her chest, her head leant back against the wall. "Yeah, after a whole day of hiding in the library! And that was after you threw her out of the Shrieking Shack, knowing full well that after a werewolf attack you need medical attention immediately! You could have helped her, but no, you cowardly sent her away!" Remus didn't meet Sirius eye, and for a second the room was silent. "Is it over now? Are you all going to stop yelling at eachother?" everyone turned to Tonks, who's eyes were closed, "And I'd seriously appreciate it if you all stopped talking about me!" she snapped. "well I think the argument is over now anyway, seen as though everyone clearly agrees with what I said." Sirius said, seemingly proud that he had won the argument. "You know something?" Tonks said desperately, "I don't care anymore. Who wins arguments, who hates who. I just want to get better, and go back to class, and forget that anything happened at all. now could you all please shut up for once and let me get some sleep?" They all sat silently, until Tonks had fallen asleep, and then a very quiet whisper-argument erupted.

Tonks was, unsurprisingly, the first to wake, and as she looked around at her sleeping friends, she could tell that they'd be out for a while. She stood up and began carefully walking around the room. She stopped at McGonagall's desk and saw that a quill and parchment were sat there, as if waiting for Tonks to write on it. she took the pen in her hand and began writing, just one paragraph to each of her friends saying how much she'd miss them if she was to ever try running away again. She considered it for a moment, morphing her fingernail to be long and thin, picking the lock, escaping into the Dark Forest. She'd be at Hogsmead before any of them were even awake, and they'd never catch her up, not if she morphed into someone from the village and stole a broomstick. She closed her eyes and tried to imagine her mother's face if she turned up on the doorstep just a month into the school year. She sighed and looked over what she'd written. Sirius' was the first, just basic stuff like how he was the best cousin she could ever wish for and thank you for always being there for her. Lily's was almost the same, but for being a good friend rather than cousins. James and Peter's were almost the same; she'd never been particularily close to either of them. Remus', however, was the final, and by far the longest, taking up almost half the parchment. She sighed loudly, knowing that if he ever read it she'd probably make him feel ten times worse than he already did. that was if he still loved her at all…

"You're already up?" neither James or Remus had seen that Tonks was awake, and she decided that, when he replied with a "yes" that if she kept quiet she might find out what Remus was actually thinking. "were you awake during the argument? I know that Peter was, but-" "Yes, I was." "Ah, then I'm guessing you heard-" "Indeed. I did." There was a moment of silence, before a third voice chipped in. "What did he hear? I fell asleep." Peter said, his tone showing that he had woken up only seconds before. "Lily eventually agreed with Sirius… she, um… she said…" "She said I was a coward," Remus snapped, "And don't deny that you two agree. I know I am… I know I should of helped her… but when I saw how scared she was… she was covered in blood… you have no idea what it's like to know you caused someone you love that much agony… I just couldn't look at her, knowing that it was my fault…" He was crying now, reliving the moment that, for the last day he'd been trying so hard and unsuccessfully to forget. Tonks could feel her eyes burning, and she knew that, by now the parchment beneath her was probably so covered in tears that what she'd written was unreadable. She hiccupped. She prayed that it was quiet enough that they hadn't heard, but there was no way to be sure. "You know that feeling when you know you can't have someone, so you just give up your feelings for them?" James nodded, "Well that's what happened with her. I know that she's scared of me… there's no point in trying anymore." "Oh, come on, mate, you know that's not true! You love Tonks-" "No, James. I don't" He looked away. He had heard, and he wanted her to think that he didn't love her any more so that she'd move on, find someone who wouldn't hurt her like he had. The truth? Saying that he didn't love her was the hardest thing Remus had ever had to say in his life, but she had to move on, and date someone less dangerous than him.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N quite a short chapter, but I like how it ends and so I left it.**

Chapter 9

McGonagall let them out just before breakfast, and as they all went down the hallway, only James and Sirius were talking, the other four just walking in silence. Sirius swung an arm around Tonks' shoulder.

"Aren't you glad that Pomphrey's finally letting you out of the Hospital Wing? You said last night you wanted to get back in class." Tonks muttered something she thought to be a yes and shrugged his shoulder away.

"Aw, come on coz you know you still want to talk to me!" Lily watched how Tonks shrugged and walked ahead of them. There was something wrong, she could tell. Call it a woman's instinct.

"I think that Tonks just needs a bit of fresh hair, right?" She grabbed the girls' hand and began leading her outside, before Sirius said,

"Oh, I'll come!" Lily shook her head.

"No, Black, you bumbling idiot. there's clearly something wrong and she is going to tell me, without you four idiots on her back."

The two stepped outside, where Lily lent against the wall. "Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

"Remus… this morning. I woke up and they were talking and… and he said he didn't love me." She said it as if she might brake at any second, and Lily pulled her into a hug.

"You know he's lying. Because he wants to protect you."

"And what if he isn't? what if… what if what happened changed his mind about me. I left. I should have stayed, I should have told him it didn't matter-"

"It matters and you know it." Lily snapped, holding her friend at arm's length, "As much as I hate to say it, your cousin is right in some respects. You could have died, and Remus should have helped you. but that's in the past, okay? You need to move forward and forget that all of this ever happened. Screw the damn Marauders. From now on, I'm sitting with you at the Hufflepuff table, ok? James will understand. The minute you are out of that hospital wing we'll sort you out, get you hair and stuff done, and we'll go and have some fun, alright? I hear that the Ravenclaw quidditch team is practicing this afternoon, I'm sure that James would appreciate the pointers on the opposing team's strategies. What do you say?" She smiled at the girl, who meekly nodded, before steering her back inside where the boys were waiting.

"We've had a chat and decided that it would be best if we all," she glanced at Sirius, "Forget about everything that's happened lately. So after breakfast, me and Tonks are going to get all done up and go scope out the Ravenclaw team." She smiled at James, who smirked.

"How are you planning on doing that?" he asked. She smiled and pecked him on the cheek.

"We are two very attractive females, and last time I checked the Ravenclaw team are all male. I trust you understand." James dramatically rolled his eyes and sighed,

"Fine, just don't expect me not to smash them up if they go too far." Lily nodded at her boyfriend and turned to the rest f the group.

"We also decided it would be best if Tonks distanced herself from you all a bit, so I'll be sitting at the Hufflepuff table with her-"

"No! right now she needs to be with her friends!" Sirius interrupted, only to have Lily sharply turned on her.

"I am her friend. What she needs is for you to back. Off. Okay, Black?" you could see in Sirius' eyes that even he feared the feisty red haired girl before him, though chances are he'd never admit it.

"whatever, Evans." He turned and pulled Tonks into a hug, before holding her at arm's length. "Have fun. And don't go getting yourself hurt anymore." Tonks nodded and they pushed into the Great Hall, Remus falling quietly behind the others. As the doors closed, the six of them turned to face eachother, the girls on one side and the boys on the other. Lily smiled at James, before they separated. Dumbledore and McGonagall saw this strange interaction from the Teacher's Table. McGonagall smirked. Clearly they had come up with some arrangement, her detention had clearly worked. Dumbledore, however, wasn't smiling. He knew full well that they were all miserable, and that people do stupid things when they're miserable.

Tonks could fell the gaze of her fellow Hufflepuffs on her and Lily as they munched on their toast. Lily wanted nothing more than to hex them all, but she knew that being angry was going to get her nowhere. She swallowed the last piece of toast and sighed. "Come on Tonks, let's go find Alice and we can get ready." Tonks nodded and shoved the last piece of bacon in her mouth before running after the girl. They found Alice and began walking up to Gryffindor tower.

"So, Tonks, how are you holding up?" She asked with a small smile. Tonks shrugged.

"It hurts, but I'll live. We're avoiding the subject for now."

"Is that such a good idea? My mother always says that it's best to confront your issues. But I mean, it's your choice." She said, not wanting to accidentally insult either girl. She knew how they could get when they were annoyed.

"I don't think that will really help on this one, Allie. Thank you for agreeing to do this for us." Lily said, squeezing her friend's shoulder. The girl laughed lightly.

"Anything for you two. Besides, Marlene was doing my nut in, anyways." she rolled her eyes, "All she ever goes on about is how Sirius is never around anymore. I told her she was being ridiculous, but it appears that she is jealous his cousin is getting more attention than her." The three girls rolled their eyes in unison, before climbing through the portrait hole. They ran up to the girls' dorm and began to get ready.

"if you don't mind, I'm going to stick to doing you two up. I don't really need any quidditch plans, plus I have a transfiguration essay due for tomorrow." She smiled and grabbed the hairbrush from the dressing table.

"Here, Tonks, come sit." She patted the seat and Tonks obediently sat down. Alice began to brush her hair as Lily got her makeup out and stood by the mirror.

"So, you two are planning on doing what, exactly?" she asked, continuing to brush Tonks' hair.

"Well we are going to go and flirt some Quidditch Strategies out of Davies and his crew." Lily winked and returned to doing her makeup.

The common room was full of people when Lily and Tonks emerged, and though a couple of people turned to stare, they were mostly oblivious to them. "James!" Lily called, and the boy turned where he sat on the sofa, along with the three other Marauders.

"Wow… Lily, you look-"

"yeah, yeah," she said, wafting a hand of dismissal, "Is there anything in particular you'd like me to focus on with the Ravenclaws?"

"Um, yeah, er, here." he handed her a list, and she smiled, before turning to Tonks. They headed out or the portrait hole.

"You two look divine!" The woman said with a smile. The two thanked her and made on their way towards the quidditch pitch.

"Hello, Boys!" Tonks remained quiet beside Lily as they got to the pitch, but her friend greeted them all with a bright smile and a wave. They all stopped where they were, one of the beaters almost falling of his broom dodging a Bludger. Davies swooped down to the ground and leaned against his broom.

"Hello, ladies, have you come to watch some talented quidditch playes rather than you house's poor excuses for teams?" Tonks could tell by Lily's expression that she didn't appreciate the last comment. Her boyfriend was the captain, after all. she decided to take over.

"That's right." She said with what she hoped was a flirtatious smile, "we were hoping you could impress us with some of your fancy moves." She winked at him as the rest of his team landed beside him.

"You heard them, show them what a good team looks like!" he said, turning to them before looking back on the girls. "you two gorgeous girls go and watch from the stands." He smirked at the pair of them before kicking off the ground. Lily rolled her eyes,

"My god, is he big headed. Do none of them even realise I'm the girlfriend of the opposing team's Captain?" she asked, and the pair laughed. They sat down in the stands and waved as the boys looked down on them. Davies flew down to them and began telling them what each move was called and what he planned on doing with them during games. He was eating out of Lily's palm, and Tonks had to supress a laugh as Lily controlled a quill to write everything down beneath the bench in front of her.

"You're all so talented, Thomas! I don't understand how Slytherin wins the cup with a team like yours!" she said, batting her eyelashes. Davies looked rather proud.

"Because the Slytherin team are dirty cheats. I hear that they are planning on switching all the brooms in the shed to jinxed ones before their match with Gryffindor." He said casually, trying his best to look cool. He was failing miserably.

"So, you play Gryffindor next week, right?" Tonks said, allowing Lily to quickly check her notes as Davies turned to her. He nodded, with a smirk.

"We sent a spy to watch them practice a few nights ago, so we know a few of their plays." He winked at her, and she had to stop herself from punching him. Sending a spy to watch Gryffindor? At least James and his team weren't stupid enough to literally explain all of their plays to the Captain's girlfriend.

"Well, thanks for letting us watch you. We really are shocked at your pure talent. Can't wait to watch you kick Gryffindor's backside." She winked and the pair of them stood up, practically running out of the stands. Davies watched them with a dazed smile on his face.

"that guy is dumb. Well, at least now I can tell James to change his plays, plus give them a few of Davies' and tell him to get his team to keep their brooms in their dorms." Tonks nodded as Lily skimmed the notes, before the pair headed quickly up to Gryffindor Tower.

"James!" The pair ran into the Gryffindor common room, and he stood up as Lily ran over. She explained everything Davies had told them, and James nodded sternly.

"Jones! Watson! Go and get the team's brooms from the shed and bring 'em up here! replace them qith the school's brooms!" the pair ran out of the room, confused but willing to obey their Captain. James sat heavily on the couch and rifled through his bag, pulling out sheets of parchment and filing through them.

"Sirius, go and give this to Marshall and tell him he has to learn it by Saturday." He handed him a piece of parchment and continued to rifle through his pile, "Tell her to give this one to Peters" he handed him a second before running over to the seeker, who was stood in the corner laughing with his friends; "Davies got someone to spy on us, I need you to learn this play by Saturday, got it?" the boy nodded with a determined expression as James ran back to the girls.

"Cheers, Lils. You two really are the best." He pulled them both into a hug, before running off to help Jones and Watson bring in the brooms.

"I think we did pretty good, although I'll have to get Davies back for that comment about James' team." Lily said with a nasty look on her face. She turned to Tonks and smiled.

"That was hectic. How about we go get Alice and head to the library?"

The library was silent – no surprise there – and Tonks, Alice and Lily were sat in the corner, trying to keep their conversation away from the other people there. "Wow." Alice said, her eyes wide. Tonks and Lily had filled her in on everything that had happened before, during, and after detention.

"So what's your plan now?" she said to Tonks, her finger moving elegantly in the air as her quill magically wrote her essay. Tonks shrugged.

"I suppose I'll just have to… try and move on…" she smiled sadly, her finger also in the air, but moving with much sharper and harsher movements. Lily was the only one writing her essay completely by hand, and she looked up from her parchment with a sigh.

"You'll be fine, Tonks, honestly. Sev turned bad. And I mean, now I have James."

"You didn't like Severus like that though." Lily looked at me with a raised eyebrow, before turning her head back down to her parchment.

"I suppose your right. Still, he was my best friend, and it was a horrible time." She said, before rolling up the parchment and shoving that along with her quill in her bag, which was slumped against her chair.

"Are we finally going? Thank the lord, I was soo bored!" Alice said with a laugh. She flicked her wrist, and the parchment and quill flew into her bag. The three girls got up, Alice and Lily with their bags over their shoulder, Tonks holding her equipment in her arms. They headed towards the Gryffindor common room, when Tonks stopped and looked towards the basement stairs.

"I'll meet you at dinner. I have a couple things I need to do." she smiled at her two confused friends and hurried down the stairs, coming to the barrels she had begun to forget.

She rarely entered the common room now, and entered the dorms even less. She looked around at her housemates. She had actually begun to forget the black and yellow uniform, even though she wore it herself almost every day. She had begun so used to seeing a room full of people in red that her brain had begun to function it as the normality.

"Well look who's back." Tonks woke up from her daze to see Avalanti watching her from the couch. Jessie, Lauren and Aliana were wither her, and they looked at her anxiously.

"So we heard about Wolfie attacking you," she smirked, "Bet you don't want to stand up for him now. tell me, what was it like to be almost murdered by a werewolf?" Tonks didn't even think twice. The girl coiled on the ground, clutching her bloodied nose.

"How dare you! You, You…. Metamorphic bitch!" Avalanti threw herself at Tonks, who's hair had gone a violent red. They wrestled on the floor for a minute, before the horrible girl took Tonks' hair and yanked it back, holding her head backwards.

"How does it feel?" she seethed into her ear, "To have your own boyfriend almost kill you?" Tonks glared up at her roommate.

"You should be in Slytherin. You're vile."

"So should you. Black." She let the word roll off her tongue, and Tonks riled in her grasp, trying to hit her, trying to escape. Suddenly her arms fell to her sides, and her legs glued themselves together. The common room was silent, and Tonks looked up. Lauren had her wand held out at Tonks. She was immobile, with a hole house worth of students against her.

"Please… just let me go… Hufflepuff are meant to be the kind house but you are all bullies!"

"We aren't bullies, Nymphadora. We're protecting our own." Jessie said, her tone full of venom.

"Lights out, sweetie." Avalanti winked at her, and then all went black.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N mwahahaha aren't I evillll. Sorry for the looong break in chapters, I was super busy with school and I've been feeling quite down over the past few weeks. But, here is the end to the cliff-hanger. Probably not as exciting as you'd hoped? I'm really sorry, but it's all I managed. Felt bad leaving you guys this long. This is quite a short chapter, but I didn't want too much to happen. Anyways, I hope you like what I got. Reviews are very much appreciated :)**

 **Chapter 10**

Tonks groaned as she woke up. her head was banging, and she was completely baffled by her whereabouts. It took a few minutes before she realised she was sat outside Gryffindor common room. It was dark, and the painting was fast asleep. She went to stretch, before seeing a note on the floor beside her.

 _You aren't welcome in Hufflepuff. Stay here with your sweet little Gryffindors._

She could already feel the tears welling up in her eyes. She knew that they hated her, but this? she slowly stood up to enter Gryffindor tower, but then she realised – The password was due to be changed today, and Lily hadn't told her what it was yet. She sighed and silently cursed herself. She had been stupid to think that her house would accept her after the last year. She supposed she would just have to wait for the night and then meet Lily in the Great Hall. Suddenly her stomach grumbled. She sighed and stood, before hurrying down the staircase and towards the Kitchens.

"Well what do we have here." Tonks looked from her feet to see Crabbe and Goyle leaning on an archway. She glared at them.

"What do you two want?" She seethed nastily, reaching for her wand. It was gone.

"Well after Wolfie came to your rescue after our last… endeavour…" He smirked, stepping closer to her, "I figured some payback was in order." He spoked quietly as the pair stepped towards Tonks. They both had their wands out.

"Leave me alone. I've never done anything to you."

"You almost landed us in Azkaban!" Crabbe said harshly, "We're lucky we didn't end up there." Tonks gulped. Unarmed and in the dead of night there was nothing she could do. She ran for it.

"You can't hide, Morphy!" The two boys chastised her as they chased her, She turned through the hallways as fast as she could, before slamming into a wall. She fell to the ground and closed her eyes as the two boys neared her. Goyle grabbed her arm and pulled her up, pushing her hard into the wall. He held a wand to her neck as Crabbe twirled his own wand around his fingers.

"You know, the Dark Lord would love to have you." He smiled, his disgusting smile now only inches from her face. She tried to squirm away, but Goyle shoved her back.

"I will never join your gang of killers1 Never-" Goyle covered her mouth with his and she felt like she was going to vomit. She tried to drag away but he was stronger than her. He pulled back and grinned at her. She felt tears rushing down her face as Crabbe continued,

"The Dark Lord will have you, Nymphadora, and you will do everything he says if you want your precious Wolfie and that Mudblood to survive this war." Tonks glared at them both, still trying to struggle out of Goyle's grasp. She spat at him. He growled and pointed his wand to her.

"Crucio!" She collapsed in Goyle's arms. she had suffered the curse before, but this was so much worse. The pain surged through her body, but his grasp stayed strong. He lifted the curse for a minute and Crabbe lifted her chin, his face only inches from hers.

"You have one last chance, Freak." He seethed. She glared at him.

"I. Will. Never. Be. Like. You." she said, gasping between each word. He smirked and shook his head.

"You're so naïve. It's sad really." He tightened his grip on her chin, painfully squeezing her cheeks.

"Please leave me alone…" She said pathetically, "I only just got out of the infirmary-"

"Ah yes, your darling Wolfie attacked you didn't he?" the two boys laughed at her as tears tumbled from her eyes.

"Leave me alone!" She screamed, frantically trying to get away from Goyle. He just held tighter, and Crabbe directed his wand at her once more. She braced herself for another round of the Cruciatus curse, but instead he just silenced her. She tried to scream out again and again, but she knew nobody could hear her. Suddenly there was a noise somewhere nearby, and Tonks closed her eyes in pleading that it was someone who had heard her first scream. The noise was getting louder. Crabbe looked to Goyle before holding his wand to her throat.

"Tell anyone we did this and I swear to Merlin we will destroy everything you love and then we'll come for you, got it?" He nodded to Goyle, and they two of them evaporated into black clouds, gliding around the corner and out of Tonks' view. She'd dropped to the floor when Goyle had released her, and her ankle stung with pain. She curled in on herself, cradling her sprained joint. Her body shook as she sobbed, her muscles still aching from the torture curse.

"Is anyone there?" It was Professor Flitwick – he was right there, in the next hallway.

"Help me!" She yelled. Silence. He couldn't hear her, her voice still silent. She heard Flitwick murmur to himself, something about 'damn pranksters' and begin to walk away. She screamed, furious, trying to get from the floor. It was like her body was glued to the floor; he limbs refused to move, and she gave up, completely collapsing on the floor and sobbing to herself. The hallways remained silent, and she prayed that at some point, someone would find her. She sat up slowly, her body pulsing with agony. Leaning against the wall and breathing heavily, she closed her eyes and tried to imagine what it would be like to lead a simple life, one where she didn't have to spend all of her time in the hospital wing. She hoped that when she was strong enough to move, once she got up to Gryffindor, Lily could help her. Her sobs were becoming painful, now, and she gasped for air, coughing. She collapsed back to the floor. Even before, when they'd done it then, it had been better than how she was feeling now. She knew what was happening before it even did – She fell against the wall and passed out.

Meanwhile in the Gryffindor common room, the Marauders were working themselves sick with worry. "Try to calm down, Sirius." James said quietly. He looked at his best friend, who was staring back at him like he'd gone mad.

"You don't trust those Hufflepuffs any more than I do! She's been gone for _hours_ James, and it's one in the bloody morning. You don't think she's gone to sleep under that tree, do you?" He turned now to Lily, who shook her head.

"Why don't you use that map of yours?" Alice said, from where she was sat in the armchair, biting her nails. Sirius pounced on her and kissed her cheek.

"Alice, you are a genius!" He declared, before taking the steps two-by-two to the boys' dorm. He returned after a minute, holding the map in his hand. He practically jumped over the back of the sofa, landing between Remus and James.

"James, give me a hand." He said, and the two began to open the map up. when it was fully opened, sprawled across the table, the five students poured over it.

"Found her!" Peter called, pointing to Tonks' name. Sirius stood, grabbing a corner of the map as he went. James and Peter ran after him, trying their best to fold the map as they did so.

"Sirius! Get the bloody hell back here!" Lily seethed as the boys rushed down the hallway, "You have no idea what state she's in-" Sirius stopped abruptly, causing James and Peter to crash into him. He turned to face Lily.

"What do you mean?" He said, pointing to her, his finger inches from her face. Lily exhaled calmly, grabbed his finger and lowered it. Alice had just reached them, panting, and Remus was walking towards them.

"Sirius, please. We both know that there are plenty of students here who hold a grudge against her. She could be hurt-" Sirius was off again. He thrust the map in James' direction and broke out in a run. Lily groaned and went after him, her feet thudding against the floor. She could tell by their hurried footsteps that James, Alice and Peter weren't far behind them. She presumed Remus was still walking, the git.

Sirius rounded the corner, Lily hot on his heels, and they both gasped. Tonks was slumped against the wall, her hair black as night and her body seemingly lifeless. Alice, James and Peter had reached them, expressing shock of their own. "Bloody Merlin…" James absently whispered. Lily pushed past the dumbstruck Sirius and slid beside the girl, grabbing her wrist and testing for a pulse.

"Sirius what the bloody hell are you doing? Help me!" Sirius seemed to snap to life at the redhead's words. They were just moving Tonks into a sitting position when Remus neared the group. By now, both James and Sirius were trying to lift Tonks.

"Remus, mate, we could really use your help." James puffed, as he tried to lift Tonks' torso. Remus sighed and shuffled over. Lily rolled her eyes. he was doing this again. He lifted her with ease, and the group began to the hospital wing.

Lily and Alice opened the doors to the infirmary, and Pomphrey looked up as the boys carried Tonks in. She gasped with shock. "This poor, poor girl…" she mumbled, as Remus and Sirius placed her on the bed. She told the students to get her things, and set to work trying to get the girl back to health.

Tonks opened her eyes and yelped in surprise. Sirius' face was inches from hers and the rest of the Marauders were surrounding her bed – Remus was reading, Alice was biting her nails, Lily and James were quietly talking and Peter was staring out of the window. They all stared at her in surprise as she yelled, Sirius' face turning to a grin. "Tonks!" He pulled her into a hug, and she looked at Lily for help.

"Come on, Sirius, the girl only just woke up!" He rolled his eyes and rolled off the bed, sitting in the chair closest. Tonks tried to sit up straighter, and of course Lily was immediately there, fixing her pillows.

"Thank you, Lily." She smiled as the older girl sat back down, "How long was I out?"

"Two weeks." Tonks' eyes widened as James spoke. She looked down at her blankets, but Sirius lifted her head.

"What happened to you?" He asked, his expression serious.

 _Tell anyone we did this and I swear to Merlin we will destroy everything you love and then we'll come for you, got it?_

"I don't know." She lied. They knew. She could tell the minute she spoke – Lily raised an eyebrow, Peter and James glanced at one another, Alice looked to Lily and Sirius sighed before sitting down. Remus didn't appear to react, still buried in his book.

"Come on, Tonks. Whoever it was will get expelled. You want that, don't you?" Sirius asked. Tonks shrugged.

"Of course, but I don't know who attacked me. The last thing I remember is going to Hufflepuff common room." Sirius was out of his seat in a second, acting rash as usual. Lily and James looked at eachother before following, leaving Tonks with Peter, Alice and Remus.

"You know you can tell us, Tonks. If… if you really, really want, I won't tell a soul." Alice said quietly, moving a seat closer. Peter looked at each of the girls anxiously before squeaking and running from the room. Remus stayed put.

"He can't hear us anyway." Alice shrugged, "Please, sweetie." Tonks sighed and closed her eyes.

"They told me they'd kill you all… said they'd destroy what I love and then come for me." Alice looked shocked as she said this, but smiled gently.

"Go on,"

"Well… it was… Crabbe and Goyle…" She mumbled, tears forming once more in her eyes. "But you can't tell! I don't want them to hurt you too!" Alice pulled her into a hug.

"I won't tell a soul. Promise."

"Not even Lily?"

"Not Lily, or Sirius, or James." Alice held the girl at arms' length and smiled.

Remus couldn't focus on his book. He would kill those two… and they would suffer just as much as Tonks had.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N – I beg for your forgiveness! This chapter isn't as long as I would like, but I am rather happy with how it turned out. For those of you who stayed to continue to read this story, I thank you all. Hopefully, this story is back on track and I will be uploading as regularly as possible. Please read and review, I love it when my email box is full of your comments. Please enjoy!**

 **Chapter 11**

Tonks grinned, happy for the first time in a while. Alice had kept her promise not to tell, and Dumbledore had (for the first time in a fair few centuries) transferred Tonks to Gryffindor. She couldn't believe it! And, to top it all, she was finally getting out of the hospital. Pomphrey had made it clear that she didn't want her to leave, but Tonks' grades had slipped so badly that she'd been forced to.

"Don't worry, Madame Pomphrey, now that she'll be staying in Gryffindor Tower we can make sure she doesn't get herself into any more scraps. Tonks grinned and nodded, following her and Alice out of the large doors. The boys had gone out for the full moon, so it was just Lily and Alice who were escorting her back to the Tower.

"I'm going to go and check the Prefect register. I think I have duty tomorrow night. You two'll be okay, right?" Tonks and Alice nodded, and Lily made her way down a different way. Alice smiled at the younger girl.

"You doing okay?" She asked, nudging her lightly with her arm. Tonks nodded,

"Yeah, I guess. Happy to be out of the Hospital Wing." Alice nodded.

"Thank you," Tonks said quietly, "For not telling them."

"I wish you would though. They're the Marauders for God's sake! They could literally murder Crabbe and Goyle and not get caught!" Tonks shrugged.

"You know what they said. I don't want any of you to get hurt." Alice nodded solemnly, and the two walked in silence.

It was half an hour before Lily got up to the Common Room, and Alice was sat with Tonks by the fire, eating some sweets from the bowl on the table.

"hello, ladies!" she smiled, grabbing one and sitting beside Alice. She crossed her legs beneath her and sighed.

"I hope the boys are okay." She said, looking wistfully at the rain-drenched window. Alice smiled brightly. Popping another sweet in her mouth.

"I'm sure they will be. They've been doing this for two years, remember?" Lily nodded and sighed again.

"I know, but I worry about them."

"I know you do, so do I. But I'm sure they'll be fine."

Sirius transformed, looking at Prongs as he did the same. "That was rough." He said, holding his bleeding arm. James nodded, straightening his glasses before reaching down to tenderly touch his ankle. With a wince, he straightened again.

"Pete, it's probably best you don't transform." He said, reaching down to pick the poor boy up. He had a rather large gash across him, and James honestly didn't know where it would be on his human form.

"Come on," Sirius said, looking anxiously at Remus' unconscious form. Prongs had thankfully managed knock him out, but a lot of damage has been done, "I don't think he's hurt too bad, plus we need to get seen to ourselves." James nodded in agreement, carefully holding Peter as they left the tree.

The walk up to the castle seemed to take forever, and Sirius was wheezing by the time they arrived outside of the Gryffindor Common room. He'd had to support both he and James' weight, and he was seriously starting to question why there had to be so many bloody stairs in this school.

"You boys." The fat lady said, and Sirius looking up with a wince. She frowned, "What you do is a wonderful thing, but it's also stupid."

"It's worth it if it means that Remus has an easier time." James said, his voice strained. She sighed, before swinging open without password. She usually did after bad moons.

"Sweet Merlin." Lily exclaimed, standing and immediately making her way over, "Episkey maximus." She said, aiming her wand at James' ankle. He placed it gingerly onto the ground, turning his head to listen to his orders.

"James, help Sirius. Peter needs to be my priority. Oh my, how could you let this happen?"

"We didn't really have much of a choice, Lils." James said, as Sirius removed his shirt. He started healing the boy, glancing every so often as Lily healed Peter.

Tonks groaned, rubbing her eyes. It was still dark out, she noticed after a minute. "Lily? Alice?" No reply. Then she remembered that Lily would be in the common room, waiting for the boys. She looked across to Lily's muggle watch, which lay on her bedside table. It would almost be time for them to get back. She sighed, climbing from the covers of the spare bed and opening the door to the common room. Voices. Were they already here? "Tonks? Is that you?" She heard Lily whisper.

"Yeah, are the boys back?" She asked, making her way down the stairs.

"We are." She heard Sirius say. His voice sounded pained. She gasped when she saw the blood.

"Was it a bad moon?" She asked, making her way to sit beside Lily. Sirius nodded, and Tonks noticed now that his torso was scattered with scars. She presumed that they were from past moons.

"Really bad," James said, "The wolf was mad about something. Hard to tell what, like. Either way, I managed to knock him out – Don't worry. He's not hurt badly, but he may have a slight concussion. Pomphrey will just think he did it himself."

"Sounds bad." Lily sighed, her wand hovering over Peter's gash. Tears soaked his cheeks as he winced with pain.

"You're sure he's okay?" Tonks asked, biting her lip. Sirius looked up at her.

"Almost certain." He said quietly, a small smile of comfort gracing his face as he pulled his shirt pack on.

They visited the Hospital wing the following lunchtime, and Remus sat up in bed. "How bad were you all?" He demanded the minute they arrived. James and Peter glanced at one another as Sirius immediately replied,

"We were fine, actually. You knocked yourself out-"

"Don't lie to me, Sirius. I've never knocked myself out. I know that something happened."

"Fine," James said, "We were all in pretty bad condition. Lily healed us all though, and we're fine."

"You're sure?" Remus said, a frown etched deep into his face. Sirius nodded,

"We're fine, mate. We were more worried about you, to be honest. James was nuts thinking he'd hurt you. Stayed up half the night."

"You did?" The young man in question shrugged, running a hand through his hair as his face turned red.

"Well, yeah, obviously." He mumbled, "Last thing I want is to hurt any of you." Remus smiled, before sighing,

"It's almost time for class. You guys better get going." The boys and Tonks turned to leave, but Lily stayed firm.

"They said that the wolf was mad about something," She said, "Do you know what?" Remus seemed on edge for a minute, and he glanced at Tonks before shrugging,

"Dunno. Bit mad, isn't it? How bloodthirsty he gets sometimes." He chuckled, but if Lily knew he was lying she didn't say anything. Simply raised her eyebrow and said,

"Yeah, it is." She said, before turning and leaving with the others.

"He wasn't telling the truth." Lily said later that night, as she sat in the common room with the Marauders, Alice and Tonks. Remus was still in the Hospital Wing.

"About what?" Sirius said, looking up from the chess game he was playing with Peter.

"When he said that he wasn't angry about something." Alice shot Tonks a look as Lily spoke, but nobody seemed to notice.

"Like he said, it was just a bad moon. You know that he can't help what happens." James shrugged, looking up from his Quidditch book. Lily sighed,

"Well I know… But something's just off."

"Yeah, Pete's beating me. Unusual. I think something fishy is going on." Sirius said, and Peter hit him on his arm as James laughed.

"I'm serious!" Lily snapped, "I think he's hiding something from us!"

"It's probably nothing, Lils," Alice said with a smile, placing her hand on her arm, "I'm going to get a book." She looked meaningfully back at Tonks, who took the hint.

"Yeah, I might get my Potions homework." The pair darted for the stairs, and Alice said in a hushed voice,

"You don't think he was paying attention to what you said in the Hospital wing, do you?"

"Well it wouldn't exactly be hard, would it? We weren't whispering!"

"But he was reading a book-"

"Not everyone zones out like you do when reading, Alice." Tonks pointed out. Alice shrugged, worry clear in her expression.

"I know. I just hope that's not it."


	12. Final Author's Note

Hey guys.

I was reading through all of my multi-chapter stories, because it's been so long since I've written for any of them that I literally don't even remember what I've said… And I just feel like I don't want to continue them. Any of them, to be honest. I was going to simply delete all of stories (I've already taken down most of my one-shots and my not very popular Avengers story) But I know that I hate when stories stop for no reason, and I don't want to leave anyone hanging.

Therefore, this is my official announcement that this story, and all my others on this site, are being henceforth discontinued.

I still love Harry Potter with all my heart, and I do want to continue writing fanfictions. But I just don't like my writing in any of these stories, and I don't see point in going back and changing everything I've said. To be fair, a large reason that I'm stopping is that I've started reading on Ao3 a LOT more than I do on here. I've also gotten into other fandoms such as Percy Jackson and Voltron, and hope to write more for those as well as Harry Potter (Although at the moment I'm not particularily pleased with anything I'm writing, so it might still be a long time before I post anything o there too)

When I started writing, it was basically the only thing I did, my only hobby. I stopped doing my homework in favour of writing and to be honest I think that may be part of the reason I've stopped for this long. I'm going into my final year of Secondary School, so I seriously need to focus on my studies, but I also have more hobbies such as cosplay, prop making, and I've rediscovered my love for reading again. I never used to watch TV too much, but I'm discovering more shows and fandoms every day that I'm loving and enjoying just as I did with Harry Potter, so I want to explore writing fanfics in those fandoms too. Plus, I spend a lot more of my time talking to my friends and girlfriend, and although my mental health is so, so much better than it was, my hearts just not in these stories any more. The plots and the characters, yes, but not how they are right now.

So… yeah. No more using . If anyone's interested, my Archive account is Raven_Woods_2003, so almost the same as it is on here. If I do decide to re-try these plots, or if I think of anything new to write about, they will be over there. I am no longer using this website. Sorry if that disappoints anyone.

To hopefully many great stories in the future, thank you for the support you gave me for all of my stories. The amazing reviews that I were given honestly meant so much to me, and will continue to mean a lot when I write things in the future.

Thank you.

Raven x


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